There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 488 The Happy Tyrant

three days later.

Matsui Taikawa returned to Kagoshima Castle in the Satsuma Domain with Xu Mingyu's draft treaty and reported back to Shimazu Shigehiro for further discussion.

Although it was called a discussion, Shimazu Shigeo should be able to agree to the conditions proposed by Xu Mingyu.

Even war reparations, as long as the amount is reasonable, or even unreasonable, can be agreed to. After all, the Satsuma Domain is already heavily indebted, so it doesn't matter if it takes on another huge amount of foreign debt.

The man was lucky; he happened to meet a shameless and long-lived lord of the Satsuma Domain who was willing to abandon his samurai dignity to borrow money from lowly merchants at exorbitant interest rates in order to amass wealth, and then default on his debts.

Historically, Shimazu Shigehiro had an extremely strong desire for control over the Satsuma Domain. He abdicated in favor of his son, Nariakiro, 14 years prior, and then continued to rule from behind the scenes. He eventually died of illness, a period of 50 years, almost outliving his grandson, Nariakiro.

In other words, this guy will be in the Satsuma Domain for at least another 30 years. With such a shameless Satsuma Domain lord who is willing to do anything for wealth, the establishment of the Great Han's maritime trade system in Ryukyu is already a certainty.

After all, the Satsuma Domain had been secretly engaged in smuggling in order to amass wealth, and the scale of smuggling continued to expand during the reign of Shimazu Shigehiro.

Now, it's simply a matter of bringing it forward, first offering a reparations amount that Shimazu Shigehiro finds unbearable, in order to force the Satsuma Domain to engage in deep trade cooperation (smuggling) with the Great Han.

What if the Satsuma Domain doesn't agree?
Then I won't agree!

The things Xu Mingyu said to Matsui Taikawa earlier were not intended as negotiations or intimidation. If they really couldn't reach an agreement, the Han army would indeed march north and storm Kagoshima Castle.

Before the Satsuma Domain sent troops, the Han army dared to go north to fight. After the Battle of Kasuri Bay, the Satsuma Domain's strengths and weaknesses were completely exposed, and the Han army had no more scruples.

Seeing Matsui Taikawa return by boat, Commander Guo couldn't help but say, "Minister Xu, you shouldn't have tried to negotiate with them first. These Japanese pirates are all spineless, cowardly and disrespectful. Let us fight a battle first, bring them to our gates, and then they'll be afraid. Negotiations will be much easier then."

Xu Mingyu laughed and said, "It's alright. If the Japanese pirates really don't know what's good for them, then Commander Guo, just follow your strategy and attack them."

……

Negotiations between the Satsuma Domain and the Great Han Dynasty are still ongoing.

Xu Mingyu put this aside for the time being. He took a ship north to Edo Castle as the Great Han Angel to formally meet with the Shogun Tokugawa Ienari.

Edo.

Tokugawa Ienari continued to indulge in sensual pleasures, and the shogunate's finances were rapidly deteriorating following the previous failed Kansei reforms.

As the contemporary shogun, Tokugawa Ienariho had great ambitions before the reforms, and even led by example in living a frugal life in support of the reforms.

After all that effort, he realized that the reforms were completely useless and had even exacerbated social conflicts. So he simply let loose and stopped pretending.

Among the dozen or so shoguns of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Ienari was arguably the most extravagant, having more than 40 wives and concubines and fathering as many as 55 children, breaking all previous records for the number of children raised by shoguns of the Edo shogunate.

Of course, such extravagant spending must come at a price.

Since Matsudaira Sadanobu, the senior councilor who presided over the Kansei Reforms, resigned ten years ago to take the blame, Tokugawa Ienari began to indulge in pleasure after taking power.

In just ten years, the Edo Shogunate's fiscal deficit has reached nearly one million taels of gold.

Even some of Tokugawa Ienari's close confidants, the senior officers, found the speed at which the shogun Ienari squandered his wealth unbelievable.

Because Tokugawa Ienari was so extravagant, by the middle of Ienari's reign, the shogunate had to recast gold and silver coins, reducing their gold and silver content, in order to slow down the rate of fiscal deficit.

Then, the shogunate's practice of repeatedly minting coins, which were all of poor quality, directly led to severe inflation in many places, including Edo, during Ienari's rule.

The increase in the money supply due to inflation, in turn, stimulated the circulation of gold and silver coins among the people, suppressed the rice rations stipulated by the shogunate, and made rice a common currency for ordinary people and merchants again, bringing about a short-term false period of urban prosperity.

Good heavens, the gold and silver currency system, which even Tanuma Itoji's reforms couldn't force through, was unintentionally accomplished by Tokugawa Ienari, a shogun who was greedy for pleasure.

Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ienari was enjoying a song and dance performance in Honmaru Castle when suddenly the senior councilor Matsudaira Nobuaki (not Matsudaira Sadanobu) rushed over to report: "Shogun, something terrible has happened! This morning, four large foreign ships suddenly entered Uraga Port (Edo Bay)!"

Tokugawa Ienari continued to enjoy the song and dance performance, speaking in a rather nonchalant tone: "Then let them leave immediately. Those who want to do business should go to Nagasaki. Edo Bay does not accept foreign merchant ships."

Seeing that the shogun didn't take it seriously, Matsudaira Nobuaki could only continue to emphasize, "Your Excellency, what has come is not a merchant ship, but an envoy ship. The people who disembarked from the envoy ship said they came from the Great Han Kingdom, the Great Han Kingdom that is currently at war with the Qing barbarians." Upon hearing this, Tokugawa Ienari finally became a little more serious and reluctantly dispersed the Kabuki troupe.

Tokugawa Ienari asked, "Matsudaira-kun, what exactly is going on? I remember that Great Han Kingdom. It was reported by the Nagasaki Port Domain that the Qing Dynasty was at war with the Great Han Kingdom, and that the Great Han Kingdom had already seized half of the Qing Dynasty's territory. How come they suddenly came to Japan?"

Tokugawa Ienari naturally understood the dynastic change that was taking place in China at that time, and the war between the Manchus and the Han Dynasty.

After all, Japan went through the same process. After the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate, the newly established Muromachi Shogunate won the Nanboku-cho civil war and unified Japan for the first time, which led to the Muromachi Shogunate era.

It was the Muromachi Shogunate that set a good precedent, leading to the emergence of the concept of daimyo governors in Japan. Subsequently, the daimyo governors fought each other and engaged in civil wars, forming the Sengoku period in Japan, which lasted for a hundred years.

It is worth mentioning that the current Japanese emperor is not considered legitimate in Japan.

During the Nanboku-cho period following the end of the Muromachi Shogunate, the legitimate emperor should actually have been Emperor Go-Daigo, who was supported by the feudal lords and nobles of the Southern Court.

Emperor Go-Daigo was the only emperor who held real power during the transition from the Kamakura to the Muromachi shogunate, but he was ultimately forced to surrender peacefully by the Muromachi shogunate because he failed to satisfy the interests of the samurai nobles.

The condition for forcing surrender was that the Southern Emperor hand over the Three Sacred Treasures, and then the descendants of the two emperors, the Northern and Southern Emperors, would take turns succeeding to the throne.

However, after the Muromachi Shogunate obtained the Three Sacred Treasures and unified Japan, it went back on its word and completely abandoned the lineage of Emperor Go-Daigo.

The Northern Court Emperor, who was supported by the Muromachi Shogunate, actually disapproved of the Muromachi Shogunate's restoration and seizure of power, so he publicly admitted that his lineage was not legitimate.

"Your Excellency, four ships carrying envoys from the Great Han Kingdom have arrived. One of them has disembarked and says he wishes to see Your Excellency to discuss the opening of the sea route between Han and Japan," Matsudaira Nobuaki replied to Tokugawa Ienari after a brief pause.

Tokugawa Ienari was clearly puzzled and deeply resistant, saying, "As for opening the seas, there's no need to talk about that. Those who want to do business can go to Nagasaki Port, where they've already set up a business hall."

Although Tokugawa Ienari was a pleasure-seeking and incompetent ruler, he still remembered the national policy that the Tokugawa shogunate had always adhered to and remained vigilant about overseas affairs.

During the Kansei Reforms, a scholar of Rangaku (Dutch studies) named Hayashi Shihei from Japan went to sea to learn about foreign knowledge and wrote an advanced book called "Haiguo Bingtan" (Discourse on Military Affairs in Maritime Countries).

Then Jiaqi banned the book because it clearly stated that the Tokugawa Shogunate's naval power had fallen far behind the West and that it was necessary to take the initiative to open up the seas and learn from the West in order to catch up.

Tokugawa Ienari believed that this statement was suspected of alluding to the politics of the shogunate, so he banned the book and also ordered that Hayashi Shihei, a scholar of Dutch studies, be placed under house arrest and forbidden from going to sea at will.

Now, a big man suddenly comes along and wants to discuss opening the sea with him. Discuss what? He has no intention of opening the sea at all!

Matsudaira Nobuaki seemed somewhat troubled, but he forced himself to say, "Those four ships carrying the orders of the Emperor of the Great Han Kingdom are already docked at Uraga Port. If we forcibly expel them, it will not only be a loss of face for our country, but also a disrespect to the Emperor of the Great Han Kingdom."

Subtext: General, it seems that Japan is no match for the Great Han Kingdom. Is it not a good idea to let them leave without giving them any face?
These words reminded Tokugawa Ienari that corruption and extravagance were rampant in the shogunate during Ienari's time, and that they were extremely cautious, even cowardly and accommodating, in foreign affairs.

Aside from their arch-enemy Tsarist Russia, which would wage war over the northern islands, the British eventually chased the Dutch all the way to Japan, landing on Japanese territory and arresting people without prior notice.

After arresting the people, neither the Netherlands nor Japan dared to utter a word. The British demanded that Japan supply them with provisions, and the Ienari Shogunate agreed to everything.

Tokugawa Ienari pondered for a moment and nodded slightly: "Matsudaira-kun is right. Then let's invite the angel from the Great Han Kingdom to stay in Edo Castle for a while, and then we can find any excuse to send the angel away."

Tokugawa Ienari's idea was simple: he didn't want to get involved in these major issues concerning the future of the shogunate, and he just wanted to delay as long as possible.

At least while he's still alive, it's best not to open the seas. Maintain the ancestral laws as much as possible, and let him continue to be a happy, incompetent ruler for several more decades. That's the most important thing.

Unfortunately, his ideas were destined to be impossible to realize, as the conservative isolationist policies of the Ienari Shogunate were not in the interests of the Han Dynasty.

Regardless of the circumstances, the Han Dynasty was determined to force the Tokugawa Shogunate to open the seas. Even if the Shogunate couldn't open the seas, it had to tacitly allow the Han Dynasty to engage in unrestricted maritime trade and smuggling with Japan.

Thus, the already rigid political and economic structure of the shogunate was bound to be severely impacted.

The three classes of Japanese people—commoners, merchants, and samurai—were already very dissatisfied with the shogunate due to the previous major reforms.

If we are not careful, it could lead to an early outbreak of the anti-shogunate movement.

(End of this chapter)