The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 566: Saint and True Saint King
April 1783, 4. This was the eighth year of the Guangzhong reign of the Yu Emperor in China, or the twenty-second day of the third lunar month in the forty-eighth year of the Qianlong reign in history.

Under the leadership of Enping Bolintong, the second assistant minister of Jianjiden, the status of Satsuma Domain was finally initially resolved.

On that day, Shimazu Tadamichi, the young lord of Sadowa Domain and the close representative of Satsuma Domain, and Hisamasa Kabayama, a descendant of Hisataka Kabayama who presided over the conquest of Ryukyu in 1609, bowed and apologized to Prince Tokugayasan Mo (Shang)he and Princess Manazuru Mo Kanfu, who represented the Ryukyu royal family, at the Tangquan Palace in Nanjing.

At the same time, the Satsuma Domain promised to pay one million silver dollars in the next ten years to compensate the Ryukyu Kingdom for the losses it had suffered over the past hundred years, and the Emperor of the Chinese Empire would guarantee and supervise the implementation.

Princess Manazuru Mokuanshi, who represented the Ryukyu royal family, was also very knowledgeable about the ways of the world. She announced that she would use 300,000 silver dollars out of the one million silver dollars to support the relocation of 30,000 people from Ryukyu to various places in Southeast Asia.

In fact, it meant that a part of the Shuri clan, which was mainly of Ryukyu descent, would take tens of thousands of people to explore Southeast Asia and become vassals of the Chinese emperor.

Then they would sell the Ryukyu farmers for 20,000 and send them to Southeast Asia to work as semi-serfs for vassal states and landowners. Of course, the official term for this was long-term laborers.

Then he took out another 100,000 silver dollars to build a palace for His Majesty the Emperor in Shuri, the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The remaining 600,000 silver dollars will all be deposited in the Fuxing Bank, half of which, 300,000 silver dollars, will be used to celebrate the birthdays of the emperor and the retired emperor over the years.

Only the last 300,000 silver dollars belonged to the Ryukyu King Momu for personal use.

Seeing Satsuma's formal apology and promise of compensation, Mo Zibu was very happy. "From now on, you are all one family. All past grudges are written off."

Princess Manazuru Mo Kuanshi and Prince Dugushan Mo He bowed to Mo Zibu together, and Mo Kuanshi even had tears in her eyes.

"The royal family of the Ryukyu Kingdom bows to thank the great emperor for upholding justice. As long as the emperor and father are here, the Ryukyu Kingdom will never be invaded by foreign enemies."

"Of course. Ryukyu will be a vassal state of China from now on. It belongs to the empire. No matter who it is, don't even think about invading Ryukyu again!"

Mo Zibu waved his hand domineeringly and gave Ryukyu an invincible BUFF.

"As for the Shuri Palace, don't build it too large. Don't waste money and manpower. Besides the main hall, build the outer palace according to the specifications of the Imperial College of Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing. Call it the Imperially Built Shuri Imperial College, and use it to train talents for the Ryukyu Kingdom."

Upon hearing this, Princess Manazuru Mokuanshi and others bowed and kowtowed again. From now on, the Shuri University built by imperial decree would become the cultural and even political center of Ryukyu.

As for the Satsuma Domain, Mo Zibu directly issued an edict ordering the Shimazu clan to change back to their ancestral surname Qin. The Satsuma Domain lord Shimazu Shigehisa was treated as an imperial marquis and was also granted houses in Nanjing and Beijing.

Crown Prince Shimazu Yoshinobu of Satsuma stayed in Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture and entered the imperial city as the crown prince of the empire to study with princes and princesses.

As for the political affairs of the Satsuma domain, Moshibu had already issued an edict appointing Kabayama Hisayoshi as the Prime Minister of Satsuma. This person was the family elder of Shimazu Shigehiro and was deeply trusted by Shimazu Shigehiro.

At the same time, this person was also one of the leaders of the Kinjiroku faction of warriors in the Satsuma domain. Respecting Mozibu as a sage king and expelling the foreigners was very beneficial to him.

So this person is the most suitable candidate at the moment.

At the same time, in addition to serving as the Prime Minister of Satsuma, Hisayoshi Karayama also served as the marching secretary of the Eastern Expedition Corps led by Reinstein, responsible for logistics, support, appeasement and other tasks.

As for Shimazu Shigehiro, as long as Zhonghua's actions in Kyushu go a little smoothly, he should soon set off to Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture to live as a retired official.

However, for Mo Zibu, the problem of Satsuma Domain is a small problem. In fact, the biggest problem at present is how to deal with the status of this group of daimyo in Japan.

Although the Satsuma clan has surrendered, its treatment is only temporarily equivalent to that of a marquis, and this will definitely not be the case in the future.

In particular, Ryukyu, which was originally controlled by the Satsuma clan, has been upgraded to the prince level because it took the initiative to become a related clan.

At present, the Satsuma people are frightened and will not say anything. In the future, when they have made achievements, they will definitely use this as a standard to express their own opinions. It is very likely that they will not be willing to be too much inferior to Ryukyu. This is very normal.

And now in Japan, there are more than two hundred daimyo with a rank of more than 10,000 koku.

Based on this, if we really follow the example of the Ryukyu Kingdom, there would be 20 to 30 princes, 70 to 80 dukes, marquises and more than 100 viscounts and barons.

If this is the case, then the noble titles in China would be worthless!
And it can't be conferred like this. Currently, the person with the highest title in the empire is Prince Lu Mo Zirong, who is basically not in the country.

Those in the country were Mo Zibu's two elder brothers, Duke of Cai and Duke of Qiong, as well as Prime Minister Li Xianwen, Duke of Xia, and Army General Chen Lian, who had just been conferred the title of Duke of Yue.

Even Lin Tong, the Grand Secretary of the Jidian Palace, who was a meritorious official and confidant of the emperor, was only the Earl of Enping. If the Japanese were given such a high title, then in the end, did the court belong to the Japanese or the Chinese?

And if we don't do that and classify them all as vassals of Nanyang, that would be even worse.

The vassal states in Nanyang were very independent and autonomous. After all, they had to overcome many difficulties to open up the country, with huge investment and harsh conditions.

But Japan is not like that. It is a ready-made country. If they were treated as vassals in Southeast Asia and basically did not interfere in the affairs of the domain, which was even looser than the Tokugawa shogunate, then why would Mo Zibu fight this war of conquest?

So after the ceremony, Mo Zibu summoned Lin Shuzhai.

This man was mature beyond his years, and although he was fifteen he definitely looked over twenty-five. He had a large forehead that protruded forward, and he looked like a monk or even Buddha in an ancient painting.

He was dressed in coarse linen and spoke in a steady tone. If he hadn't lacked the aura of a top scholar in white clothes, he would indeed have the feeling of a Confucian leader.

And don’t think that Lin Shuzhai is still a young man just because he is only fifteen years old. In fact, his eldest daughter is almost one year old, and his eldest son will be born soon.

At the age of fifteen, he is already a complete adult, otherwise he would not have been chosen to be a member of the secret mission.

In history that Mo Zibu did not know, Lin Shuzhai was known as the lord of the Lin family's revival. He revived the Mito clan studies that had been severely hit by the ancient school of thought, and improved some of the theories that Zhu Shunshui had failed to justify, or in other words, he truly localized the Confucianism brought by Zhu Shunshui into Japan.

He educated Japanese Confucian saints such as Sato Issai, who had a profound influence on Japanese society and enabled Japan to truly break away from the remote island-style self-entertainment in culture and thought.

Even in history, if Lin Shuzhai had not taught, his disciples headed by Sato Issai would have influenced the shogunate in various ways, and even forced the Tokugawa shogunate to return power, respect the emperor as the true holy king and start to expel the foreigners.

Without them, the idea of respecting the king and expelling the barbarians could not have been used to bridge the differences between the knowledgeable people in the east and west of Japan and coordinate the interests of both sides.

He even persuaded the shogunate and the relatives of the feudal lords to voluntarily give up a considerable portion of power to the southwestern feudal lords, and successfully welcomed the emperor to Edo (Tokyo).

The anti-shogunate movements of the Satsuma and Choshu clans were not necessarily successful. Even if they were successful, the war would still last at least ten to twenty years.

A miserable transformation and reform was achieved at the cost of crushing Japan into a semi-colony supported by a large number of representatives from Britain, France, and even Russia and the United States.

This is also the reason why Sato Issai, a direct disciple of Lin Shuzhai, was regarded as the last Confucian saint who established virtue, words and achievements by Chinese literati who were suffering from the country's decline into a semi-slave and semi-colonial society at that time.

As for a true genius like Sato Issai, a Confucian prodigy from childhood, a pillar of the Japanese Confucian Fengyue Society at the age of twelve, lecturing at the age of eighteen, and already training a large number of disciples by the age of twenty-five, one should never judge his ability by his age. Mo Zibu chatted with Lin Shuzhai for a few minutes and felt that this man's knowledge, learning, and perspective were extremely disproportionate to his age.

As a result, the discussion between the two sides became more and more in-depth. Mo Zibu said with a smile: "If the Western White Ghosts had not risen, the Western Roman Qin Empire would have had the possibility of reviving and even controlling the world, and I would not have treated the Kingdom of the Rising Sun so harshly.

The Tokugawa family, including you, can continue to live your lives freely behind closed doors.

Even if it's the so-called emperor of Yamashiro who usurped the throne, as long as he doesn't flaunt his title outside, I can pretend I didn't see it."

Mo Zibu's words, as long as his identity as a time traveler was not exposed, were from the heart no matter who saw them, so Lin Shuzhai also felt that they were very correct, and he nodded in agreement.

"Dequan, do you know why this happened?" Mo Zibu called Lin Shuzhai's name affectionately and tested him at the same time.

"How can I allow others to snore beside my bed!" Lin Shuzhai was still young and had a deep superstition about power, so he was very humble in front of Mo Zibu.

He nervously sat halfway on the brocade stool and clasped his hands before answering, "The Land of the Rising Sun is east of China and doesn't border it. It has always been culturally isolated, and its terrain is complex. It has a population of 30 million.

Although I am a Japanese, I might as well give an inappropriate example. The Land of the Rising Sun is to China like a lone wolf wandering at the doorstep.

Given the current situation, China has to go out and fight with others frequently. How can it go out with peace of mind if it does not deal with the lone wolf of the Land of the Rising Sun?

What's more, if this lone wolf so close is adopted by a powerful enemy, the disaster will be even greater.

Therefore, as long as the world situation reaches the point where the East and the West compete for hegemony, China must first resolve the Kingdom of the Rising Sun. This is the most important step for China to achieve supremacy. If this step is not achieved, there will be unrest at home."

"Well said. Do you, Dequan, know what is my biggest headache now when facing you, the Country of the Rising Sun?" Mo Zibu clapped his hands and praised Lin Shuzhai.

"I may be a foolish commoner, but I would like to speculate on your Majesty's intentions today. Your Majesty must be worried about how to deal with these two hundred daimyo.

After all, if their position in China is not resolved, it will be impossible to gain their support. If the Japanese daimyo do not accept China, I am afraid that there will be no stability for ten or eight years."

"That's right, Dequan is indeed a rising star in Japan. This is what I am worried about." Mo Zibu showed a faint bitter smile on his face.

"There are more than two hundred daimyo, and under them are a large number of hatamoto samurai. Although many of them are extremely poor, it is impossible to ask them to give up their noble status.

But I can’t confer titles on all of these people.”

After listening to this, Lin Shuzhai smiled faintly, "Your Majesty, in fact, the daimyo and hatamoto samurai of the Land of the Rising Sun are not very poor.

The current situation where even the shogunate's finances are on the verge of collapse is actually caused intentionally by the shogunate, just to tire out the 200 daimyo.

If Your Majesty could abolish the Sankinkotai system imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate, and the pomp and ceremony that each daimyo and hatamoto must maintain, and not force them to support so many retainers.

These people will soon be free from poverty, or at least not as poor as they are today."

What Lin Shuzhai said is one of the important reasons why more than 200 daimyo in Japan were poor, and it was entirely intentional by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The old turtle must have known that with the size of Japan, it was impossible to support hundreds of thousands of samurai, but he still did it in order to exhaust the world.

These hundreds of thousands of samurai did not produce anything, but instead devoted themselves to ostentation. Nowadays, it would take about forty Japanese farmers to support one samurai.

If we include the families of the samurai, some ronin who must be won over and who consider themselves samurai, as well as a large number of temple monks, the proportion of offerings will be even larger.

It's likely that 15 to 20 farmers support one person who is completely off-farm. With this ratio, 70 to 80 percent of the country's output is spent on this. It would be surprising if the country wasn't poor.

When Mo Zibu heard Lin Shuzhai say this, he did not continue to ask, but waited for him to continue, because if the Japanese were not famous, it would not be a particularly good thing for China.

This is equivalent to China removing the huge mountain of the Tokugawa Shogunate for them, but there is no other system to replace it, and the risk of rebellion in the future is extremely high.

"Among these approximately 700,000 warriors, there are more than 600,000 middle and lower-level warriors. They are the biggest threat to Your Majesty. If they are not properly managed, disaster will immediately occur.

On the other hand, the top-ranking high-ranking hatamoto and daimyo, without the support of the samurai below, would be easily dealt with by the imperial court, wouldn't it? " Lin Shuzhai's face showed a hint of ruthlessness that didn't belong to a great scholar.

"Therefore, I suggest that Your Majesty recruit warriors on a large scale. They are cheap, most of them are literate, and if they are thrown into the army and strictly managed, they will be the best vanguards.

Whether it's going to Southeast Asia to control the natives, or going to the river to hunt down Uzbeks, or going to India or North America, there are places where they can be used."

Mo Zibu understood that these hundreds of thousands of samurai were a burden and even a time bomb for Japan and the Tokugawa shogunate, but they were a good thing for China.

They were cheap, tough, easy to use, and available in large quantities. They were recruited from Japan, supposedly to be vanguards, but in reality they were used as cannon fodder.

In this way, if one or two hundred thousand people die, another one or two hundred thousand will be resettled, and then tens of thousands of capable and loyal people will be recruited as templates and incorporated into the standing army to be stationed in various places. Then the problem of the samurai will be solved.

The problems of these samurai have been solved, but the remaining daimyo have no foundation below them. Do they still dare to challenge the imperial court?
Mo Zibu had already figured out a rough solution. After a moment's hesitation, he finally asked, "If this plan is discovered from the outset and the daimyo refuse to hand over their samurai, we'll likely have to resort to continued military force to eliminate them."

"Then I suggest that Your Majesty control the wealthy merchants of Edo, Osaka, and Nagasaki. With the support of the shogunate, they are owed huge debts by various feudal domains, including the shogunate, which they are unable to repay.

As long as Your Majesty controls these wealthy merchants and obtains the IOUs from all the daimyo of Japan, then with justice in your left hand and the IOUs in your right hand, which daimyo would dare to defy the imperial court?

As he spoke, Lin Shuzhai suddenly slid from the brocade stool to the ground, knelt down with a plop, and said in a trembling voice: "In order to identify the loyalty and treachery of the more than 200 daimyo in Japan, Your Majesty must have someone available.

"As a reverent scholar of Mito Domain, I am willing to serve Your Majesty at my utmost service!"

Virtue!

Mo Zibu felt like his brain suddenly froze for a moment. He almost regarded Lin Shuzhai as a true Confucian scholar, but this sliding kneel suddenly reminded Mo Zibu.

The person opposite him, even though he had a very high talent in Confucianism, still had a Japanese soul.

Although this kind of island country can produce some talented and learned people, their national characteristics limit them and they have never produced a truly great man from beginning to end.

But this is a good thing for China.

"Hahahaha, Dequan really wins my heart. I am planning to make use of Zhu Zi's apprentice!" Although he despised him in his heart, Mo Zibu looked very happy on the surface.

(End of this chapter)