The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 425: Far-reaching layout
The Japanese envoy Xiao Xifei is here again.

This time Wanli did not leave this guy alone.

He even had a surprise planned for the guy.

Xiao Xifei had just arrived in the capital when he was taken to the palace by a luxurious carriage at around noon the next morning.

He thought the carriage made of pure sandalwood was luxurious enough, but who knew that there was an even more luxurious palace in the palace.

The tables and chairs in this hall are all carefully carved out of golden nanmu!
Phoebe nanmu, a wood that is said to be more valuable than gold.

One of the armchairs here is probably worth tens of thousands of taels, and there are more than twenty of them neatly arranged in two rows.

What’s even more exaggerated is that there is a large table in the middle of the hall that is more than ten feet long and nearly ten feet wide. The table top seems to be made of a whole piece of golden nanmu wood!

How can this be?

Is there such a big golden nanmu tree in the world?

When Xiao Xifei walked into the magnificent hall and took a look, he was stunned.

This guy has really never seen the world.

What is golden nanmu?
There are plenty of them at the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Xingdusi.

Why are you still standing there like an idiot?

Don’t you see His Majesty sitting here?
Seeing this, Li Xuancheng coughed lightly to remind this guy.

Xiao Xifei looked up and quickly bowed, saying, "The Japanese envoy pays respect to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then raised his hand and said, "Please sit down."

A young eunuch immediately stepped forward and pulled the last armchair on the left a little further out, motioning Xiao Xifei to sit down.

Are you so polite?

Xiao Xifei was a little flattered.

After he sat down carefully, he was attracted by the gorgeous gold patterns on the table. He was so engrossed in looking at it that he even forgot to speak.

Wanli was not in a hurry. He actually raised his hand and said, "Bring tea."

"Hua La", a sound of footsteps was heard, and two teams of young eunuchs came up carrying many exquisite plates.

Xiao Xifei finally reacted and turned his head to take a look with curiosity.

He thought that serving tea meant just giving him a cup of tea, but unexpectedly, what came was a whole set of tea sets.

No, there are two sets. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also has one set.

These two sets of tea sets are really exquisite. The teacups, teapots and tea jars are all in the shape of petals, and they are covered with gold wire patterns.

And the charcoal stove is covered with hollow patterns, I wonder how exquisite it is.

Even the trays are all carved with exquisite patterns.

He had seen tea sets before. Toyotomi Hideyoshi specially built a golden tea room, and the tea sets inside were all made of gold.

However, the golden tea set was like the things of a poor country man compared to the things of a rich man in the city compared to the porcelain and the copper charcoal stove.

Moreover, you don’t have to make tea yourself here. The young eunuchs are all well-trained and very skillful.

Wanli watched the eunuch brew the tea slowly, then picked up a small cup and raised it, saying, "West Lake Longjing, the tenderest buds, let's taste it."

After saying that, he blew on it slowly a few times, then drank it in one gulp.

This is called tea tasting, and Xiao Xifei knows a little about it.

He quickly picked up a small cup, blew on it, and drank it in one gulp.

My God, it’s so fragrant, so mellow, and so rich!
Only now did he know what good tea was.

This kind of tea probably can't be bought even with one ounce of gold in Japan.

He is so lucky to be able to drink that.

However, he was not here to taste tea, he was here to negotiate.

He didn't know why the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was suddenly so polite to him and even invited him to drink tea.

Wanli was actually making plans.

These days he has been thinking about how to destroy Japan at the lowest cost.

The chapter on offensive strategy in Sun Tzu's Art of War actually explains this very clearly.

The method of commanding troops is to conquer the whole country first, and to destroy the country is the second best; to conquer the whole army first, and to destroy the army is the second best; to conquer the whole brigade first, and to destroy the brigade is the second best; to conquer the whole soldier first, and to destroy the soldier is the second best; to conquer the whole squad first, and to destroy the squad is the second best.

Therefore, winning every battle is not the best of all skills; defeating the enemy without fighting is the best of all skills.

This means that strategy is to find ways to achieve victory at the lowest cost, and the best strategy is to defeat the enemy without fighting.

Perhaps, many people think that this is impossible.

Subduing the enemy's army without fighting?
Are all enemies fools?

This underestimates the power of strategy. This strategy is often used, and many of them are successful.

Sometimes we are not as good as foreigners in using it. For example, in the future, a country can spend some money and weapons to cause a fight within a country or even between two countries. They can even reduce a country to ruins without sending a single soldier.

This is the power of strategy.

Although it was impossible for the Japanese pirates to surrender without a fight, he could use strategy to reduce the casualties of his soldiers.

The reason why he was so polite to Xiao Xifei this time was actually because he was using strategy.

Xiao Xifei was completely confused.

He didn't come here just to taste it.

However, the Ming Emperor continued to drink tea with him.

He endured it again and again, but finally couldn't help saying, "Your Majesty, I have come here on the orders of His Majesty the Grand Duke to continue the peace talks. We have already prepared the compensation for this year and have already taken it to Nagoya. Your Majesty, please send a ship to take it."

Wanli nodded with apparent satisfaction and said, "Well, very good. Honesty is the foundation of friendly exchanges. You are honest, and I am honest too. In this way, the Ming Dynasty and Japan can have friendly exchanges."

Do you want to have friendly relations with us?
Our Lord Taiko doesn't think so.

Never mind. I can’t control this.

Xiao Xifei was stunned for a moment, then said carefully, "Your Majesty, our money and food have been paid on time. Can you please release all the captured soldiers to us?"

Of course not.

But I want you to think you can.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Well, this year I plan to release the people from this state, and next year I plan to release the people from the four countries."

There aren't many people coming from these two places.

Xiao Xifei said with a stiff upper lip, "Your Majesty, what about Jiuzhou?"

Wanli said calmly: "Didn't I tell you that if you cede Kyushu Island, I will release the Kyushu soldiers. If you don't cede Kyushu Island, I won't release a single one."

I know you said it.

Xiao Xifei thought for a moment, then said carefully, "Your Majesty, we are in peace talks, so this can also be discussed, right?"

I just want you to feel that everything can be solved through peace talks.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, this is indeed negotiable. Tell us about your sincerity."

I can understand sincerity.

We haven't prepared much sincerity for this question.

Xiao Xifei simply gritted his teeth and said, "Our Taiko-sama means that we can cede Iki Island to you as well."

It's such a small place, and you're sending beggars there?

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "Iki Island is too small. This sincerity is far from enough."

Then I’m not sincere.

This is the little sincerity that our Prince Taiko has shown me.

Xiao Xifei said helplessly, "Your Majesty, we simply cannot give up Kyushu Island. Can you offer us something else?"

Did you finally think of changing to something else?

This is what you said.

Wanli pretended to hesitate for a while, then reluctantly said: "Okay, I will give you something else. Our Ming Guogong's fiefdom is 500,000 mu of fertile land. At 25 taels per mu, that's 12.5 million taels.

Nine dukes, that's the total. Forget it, it's a headache to calculate, I'll give you a cheaper price, a total of 100 million taels."

what?
This is another 100 million taels!

You are too cruel.

Xiao Xifei said with embarrassment: "Your Majesty, you know we don't have much money."

It doesn’t matter, I just want you to think that I don’t want to start a war.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "This can also be paid over a hundred years. You just need to pay an additional one million taels each year."

Alas, the total compensation this year is three million taels. Can His Highness Taiko agree?
However, this is better than ceding Kyushu Island.

Xiao Xifei thought for a moment, then said carefully, "Your Majesty, I cannot make the decision on this matter. I must go back and ask His Majesty the Grand Court for instructions."

no problem.

You go back and ask for instructions.

I have just started planning this, so it will take some time.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, I'll arrange a boat to take you back to Japan tomorrow. Come, the tea is already brewed, don't waste it, let's continue to enjoy it."

Are you really going to treat me to tea?

Upon hearing this, Xiao Xifei quickly nodded and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)