The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 423 People’s hearts are broken
May is the most comfortable time in Kitakyushu, especially at the seaside.

The gentle sea breeze was so cool.

Around noon, when the sun is at its highest point, it is time for dinner.

In the ronin camp near Hirado Port in Hizen Province, wisps of smoke were rising.

This ronin camp is really big. The messy rag tents almost cover the mountains within a radius of several miles near Hirado Port.

There were a lot of wanderers in the camp. There were hundreds of big pots surrounded by three layers of people inside and outside, densely packed with black spots.

These ronin seemed to be able to divide the work and cooperate with each other. Some carried firewood, some added firewood, some washed kelp and seaweed, some cleaned fish and shrimps, some added water, some added rice, and some put various things caught from the sea in.

Others held their bowls and looked at the porridge boiling in the pot with shining eyes, swallowing their saliva continuously, as if the pot was cooking something delicious.

Wanli was also thinking of giving them two meals of porridge and one meal of fish soup every day.

In fact, there is no need to be so troublesome.

At that time, people in Japan did not have so many requirements, especially among the common people. Porridge was cooked in one pot, and any other ingredients were simply thrown into the porridge and cooked together. It was enough to fill the stomach.

They are all used to eating it this way, so there is no need to cook it separately.

It is rumored that Toyotomi Hideyoshi also liked to eat rice soaked in tea. Perhaps this guy was used to eating porridge when he was a ronin, and he was not used to eating dry rice.

In short, Ronin are the lowest of the low in Japan. They live worse than the poor, and it is common for them to have no food to eat. The food here refers to porridge, not rice.

This kind of porridge with various seafood added is considered the ultimate delicacy for them.

For them, having two meals of porridge like this every day is the good life they have always dreamed of.

Therefore, the ronin camp built by Li Yuansheng near Hirado Port is a holy place in the minds of all ronin. All the ronin who heard the news rushed here, and there was no need to summon people everywhere.

Li Yuansheng's trusted subordinates accepted everyone who came. After all, having a hundred or so more people would just add fuel to the pot. They didn't have to worry about housing or clothing, or even fishing, because there were always wanderers vying to join them.

They only need to give each pot about ten pounds of rice for each meal. The ronin who come to the ronin camp treat them like ancestors, and each of them has thousands of ronin under their command.

In this day and age, there is only one ancestor in Japan who can give so much food to ronin for free every day. They even send boats to help ronin catch seafood. Where can you find such an ancestor?

There are no such good people anywhere else.

As for why these ancestors provided so much rice and boats to support everyone, the wanderers never thought about it.

What else do they want when they have two free meals of seafood porridge every day? They would even do murder and arson.

This kind of seafood porridge is really a rare delicacy for them. After being given a bowl, many ronin savored it carefully as if they were eating delicacies from land and sea, with their eyes full of intoxication.

They were drinking porridge when suddenly a cluster of black spots appeared on the sea outside Hirado Port. They were so densely packed that there were probably at least hundreds of ships.

The wanderers just glanced at it and didn't react at all.

They had actually heard that Ming China was going to attack the Japanese mainland.

However, this has little to do with them.

Even if the Ming army attacked, could their lives be any worse?

It would have been fine if they didn't care, but the Mori clan's defenders in Hirado Port pretended not to see anything and didn't make any movement at all. This was a bit weird.

Has Mori Terumoto already told all his subordinates that he is a traitor to the Ming Dynasty?
Of course not.

If he dared to tell everyone, someone would definitely go and tell Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

After all, he had recruited more than 100,000 troops at this time, and most of them were captured men, and many of them were dissatisfied with him.

Therefore, it was impossible for him to tell all his subordinates that he was a traitor to the Ming Dynasty.

However, all the generals leading the troops were close confidants of the Mori family, and they knew what was going on.

Anyway, the Ming army was coming, so they just pretended to be defeated and ran away quickly. There was no need to resist, so they naturally didn't bother to make any effort.

They ordered all their men to stay put and not move, and wait and see how the situation developed. If the situation was not right, they would run away immediately.

As for the issue of running away, there is no need to explain it to anyone. The Mori family's people are famous throughout Japan for their love of running away.

So, are these densely packed black spots the Ming army attacking?
This time, there were more than one hundred large ships of 800 tons each, and they were not of the Japanese standard, but of the Ming Dynasty standard.

However, the people on the ship were not Ming soldiers, but pirates dressed in civilian clothes.

When the fleet entered the port, the Mori family's defenders still did not move, but the more than ten ancestors in the Ronin camp hurried to the dock and waited respectfully.

This is their ancestor coming!

Li Yuansheng did not disembark. He simply ordered the boat to dock and took the dozen or so trusted men into the cabin, where he gave them a detailed explanation. Immediately afterwards, the dozen or so trusted men quickly disembarked and ran around the Ronin camp, shouting.

This is the job.

All the ronin in the ronin camp quickly rolled up their tattered tents, put them on their backs, picked up the iron pots and ran to the dock. They were so energetic, as if they were going to make a lot of money.

In fact, Li Yuansheng just let these ronin get on the boat, disperse to other port cities, and then distribute Japanese tabloids. The wages were not much.

However, these ronin are still full of energy.

They are almost full now, but they also want to earn some money to buy things.

Ronin also have their own aspirations. For example, the ronin Toyotomi Hideyoshi's aspiration was to become the ruler of Japan, and he succeeded.

Although other ronin may not have goals as big as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, they are not the kind of people who are so bad that they just want to eat and wait for death.

They also want to make some money to buy what they want.

For example, waterproof cloth, new clothes, and even Japanese swords.

In short, as long as there is money to be made, they are willing to do anything.

After these wanderers squeezed onto the boat carrying their pots, the fleet split into more than ten groups and sailed towards more than ten vassal states controlled by the Mori clan.

Before long, the Mori family's territory was filled with Japanese tabloids.

These ronin are still spreading to southern Kyushu, Shikoku Island, central Honshu and northern Honshu.

They were so enthusiastic about it that within about ten days or half a month, the whole of Japan was covered with tabloids.

This time the tabloid has not just one issue, but five.

However, the content is the same, that is, letters written by daimyo and generals captured by the Ming Dynasty.

Although these guys did not explicitly curse Toyotomi Hideyoshi, they all praised the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was a country of etiquette. The Ming Dynasty did not want to fight. The Ming Dynasty treated them very well. The Ming Dynasty would let them return to Japan. The Ming Dynasty was ready to do business with them. The Ming Dynasty recovered the vassal state of Korea at the request of the other party. The Ming Dynasty never wanted to attack the Japanese mainland at all.

Don't listen to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and prepare for war madly against the Ming Dynasty.

If the Ming Dynasty is really forced to go to war, it will be the end of us.

When people from various vassal states in Japan saw these tabloids, they all looked strange.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi publicized the threat from the Ming Dynasty, which meant that the country would attack, and they naturally knew it.

Because at this time almost all the able-bodied men had been captured, and fortresses were being built in many places, and everyone was frantically preparing for war.

As a result, there were so many daimyos and generals that showed that Ming China had no intention of attacking the Japanese mainland at all!
real or fake?

Some people who knew the families of these daimyos and generals went to ask and confirm it.

As a result, everyone agreed.

The families of these daimyo and generals naturally would not spread the letters written by their captured relatives.

However, they all understood that once Japan and the Ming Dynasty went to war, their loved ones would definitely not be able to return.

Therefore, they basically adopted a tacit attitude, neither saying that the letter in the tabloid was true nor that the letter in the tabloid was false.

This caused a lot of discussion throughout Japan.

Many people began to doubt the Ming threat theory promoted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

This argument seems to have a big problem.

Since the Ming Dynasty wanted to invade the Japanese mainland, why did it release the captives?
They didn't just release the captured daimyo and generals, they also released all the soldiers and able-bodied men.

Several daimyos and generals of the Mori clan and more than 40,000 troops were released, and this was known to everyone in Japan.

The Ming Dynasty is obviously showing goodwill. If the Ming Dynasty really wants to attack the Japanese mainland, would it release so many prisoners?
Only someone with a problem in their brain would do this.

The commander-in-chief or emperor of the Ming Dynasty should have no problem with his brain. So, what did Toyotomi Hideyoshi mean by vigorously promoting the theory of the threat from the Ming Dynasty?

This guy is most likely afraid that he will be united and ousted from power because of the failure of his vassal state, North Korea, so he created an imaginary enemy so that everyone will continue to listen to him and unite against the outside world!
There is also a threat from the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was releasing prisoners, not attacking the Japanese mainland!
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi saw these Japanese tabloids, he couldn't help but panic.

This is troublesome, people’s hearts are going to fall apart!
(End of this chapter)