The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 451 The Overall Situation Has Been Decided: Kill or Keep
This guy, Mori Terumoto, actually wrote a letter saying that he wanted to send the able-bodied men back to farm.

This meant leaving the original 50,000 troops to besiege Edo Castle, and sending the remaining more than 100,000 able-bodied men back to do spring plowing.

If this were true, Mori Terumoto would not have the troops to attack other lords, at least not before the end of spring plowing.

The question is, will the remaining princes in Japan believe this guy?

You know what, they actually believe it.

Because it seems that Mori Terumoto has not deceived them yet.

It was a bit unexpected that this guy attacked Toyotomi Hideyoshi's territory like a madman at the beginning.

However, this has nothing to do with whether they were deceived or not.

Mori Terumoto was originally allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu, and this guy should have fought Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

As for the fact that this guy later fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu, there is no question of whether he was deceiving them or not.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was indeed a bit too much. Mori Terumoto was fighting with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's main force, but Tokugawa Ieyasu took the opportunity to seize Toyotomi Hideyoshi's territory.

Mori Terumoto was angry, and coupled with the factor of the struggle for the throne, it was normal for this guy to go after Tokugawa Ieyasu.

As for what Mori Terumoto said about sending more than 100,000 able-bodied men back to do spring plowing, this is also normal.

Because spring plowing can start now in Kyushu Island, and spring plowing can also start in western Honshu next month.

It seemed a bit late for Mori Terumoto to send the able-bodied men back to start spring plowing at this time. After all, it would take an extremely long time to rush so many able-bodied men back to Kyushu Island and then back to their hometowns.

They didn't expect that Mori Terumoto didn't send the able-bodied men back to do spring plowing at all.

As soon as this guy finished writing the letter, he split into four groups and rushed towards them!

The result can be imagined.

Maeda Toshiie, Date Masamune, Gamo Ujisato and Uesugi Kagekatsu were almost defenseless, and they released the captured men to prepare for spring plowing.

After all, the spring plowing time in Kyushu Island and western Honshu is earlier than that in their territory. If they don't let their men finish the spring plowing quickly, then when Mori Terumoto finishes the spring plowing and gathers the men to rush over, they will not have time to gather the men.

How could they have imagined that this guy, Mori Terumoto, would not care about spring plowing and just attack like crazy!

At this moment, almost all the able-bodied men in Kyushu Island and western Honshu have been captured. How can the elderly, the weak, women and children farm the land?

Doesn’t Mori Terumoto care whether his subordinates have food to eat?

You know what, there's really no need to worry about this Mori Terumoto.

He has surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Emperor would never let his subordinates go hungry.

At this moment, Wanli was considering the spring plowing issues in Kyushu Island, western Honshu, and even Shikoku Island.

If he wanted to grow crops on the land in these places this year, he would have to release all the captives from Kyushu and Shikoku.

However, before that he had to deal with the problem of the captured daimyo and generals in Kyushu and Shikoku.

Should these people be killed directly or put back together?
If you cut it down directly, it may seem easy, but it will actually cause a lot of trouble later.

Because these guys are not just one person, most of the daimyos and generals in Japan come from powerful families, and they have a lot of friends, relatives, and even retainers.

He beheaded all the captured daimyo and generals, and the relatives, friends, and even retainers of these guys would definitely bear a grudge.

What will happen if the relatives, friends and even retainers of these guys hold a grudge against them?

If they are brainless or reckless, they will immediately try to cause trouble or even chaos.

This kind of thing is not scary. Just catch it and chop it up.

If they had any brains, they would have endured until most of their troops withdrew to the Ming mainland, or they would have gone to war with other forces and then secretly organized a rebellion.

This kind is the most terrifying.

If such smart Japanese pirates were hiding everywhere in Kyushu, Shikoku and even Honshu, there would be no peace in Japan, and he would probably have to send large armies to suppress them every year.

This definitely won't work. He didn't take over Japan just to waste time with these guys. He wanted to eliminate the trouble forever, not to have endless peace.

So, how can we eliminate the trouble permanently?
Wanli pondered for a long time.

Around noon that day, he invited the captured daimyo and generals to the dining hall of the Yangxin Palace for a feast. The Ming Dynasty civil officials were quite adept at teaching etiquette.

These daimyos and generals have been taught for so long that their originally brutal natures seem to have been erased, and they seem to have become polite.

Of course, this is just an appearance.

The country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change.

The reason why these daimyos and generals behaved so politely at this moment was because this was the Ming Dynasty and they were captives. If they didn't behave well, not only would they not be able to go back, they might also be beaten to death by the Ming Emperor himself with a stick!

They don't want to die in a foreign country like this, they all want to go back, so naturally they have to behave politely.

Wanli also seemed to be polite and offered a glass of wine. He also invited these guys to taste the delicacies on the table. Then he said solemnly: "Everyone, I am ready to let you go back, including your soldiers and captured men. All of them will be released back."

It’s finally over!

Upon hearing this, all the daimyos and generals were surprised and thanked him repeatedly.

Wanli nodded slightly, and then said solemnly: "Your Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi not only did not keep his word, but also went crazy and wiped out the clan of that person in your Kyoto city.

Seeing that this guy was too unreasonable, Mori Terumoto asked the Ming Dynasty to send troops to help destroy him.

Unexpectedly, Tokugawa Ieyasu and other daimyos still wanted to compete with Mori Terumoto for the position of the new emperor of Japan. Mori Terumoto had no choice but to destroy them all.

Now that Mori Terumoto has surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, I have promoted him to the Duke of Ying.

Do you want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty like Mori Terumoto, or do you want to be killed like Toyotomi Hideyoshi and other daimyo?"

what?
When the daimyo and generals heard this, they were all stunned.

He was just talking nonsense, but his meaning was very clear, that is, Japan has been destroyed by the Ming Dynasty. Will you choose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty or choose to die immediately!

This one doesn’t actually need to be chosen.

Even if they want to resist, take revenge, and take back Japan, they have to go back to Japan first.

Now they are prisoners, and they don’t have any soldiers under their command. Whatever they think is courting death!

Who would choose to die?
The daimyos and generals were stunned for a while, their eyes rolled around for a while, and finally someone spoke.

Toyotomi Hidekatsu was the first to stand up and bow, saying, "Your humble servant chooses to submit to the Ming Dynasty."

You are still a humble official, what a humble official you are.

But you wear this headband very well.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, that's right, you can go back."

So simple!
A group of daimyos and generals quickly stood up and, following Toyotomi Hidekatsu's example, expressed their willingness to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

Wanli nodded with a fake look of satisfaction and said, "Well, that's good. You can all go back now. I will enfeoff new princes in Japan. When the time comes, you can serve as retainers under these princes, and lead your people to live a good life with the new princes."

This means that not only can I go back, but I will also have power and can manage my original team!
Naturally, some of them didn't want to live a good life, but they all wanted to go back, and everything would have to wait until they got back.

A group of daimyos and generals bowed and thanked him again and again.

Wanli nodded slightly, and then said solemnly: "From now on, you are all ministers of the Ming Dynasty. You must not do anything that is detrimental to the Ming Dynasty.

If you do anything detrimental to the Ming Dynasty in the future, it will be tantamount to treason. You should also know that the Ming Dynasty laws clearly stipulate that rebellion will result in the extermination of all nine generations of the clan."

Will you be able to kill all nine of our clans by then? No matter what, let’s go back first.

The daimyos and generals nodded repeatedly to show that they understood.

They all thought that once they returned, they would have a free and open world and could do whatever they wanted.

Wanli actually wanted to release them and then kill them.

Because it would be useless to kill them in the capital of Ming Dynasty, and it would not deter other Japanese pirates.

Wanli wanted to release them and kill them to deter other Japanese pirates.

Anyone who dares to disobey will have his entire clan exterminated, and we will continue to kill until all the Japanese pirates are obedient!
(End of this chapter)