"Does your country want to change its status quo and turn away from the land of etiquette and become a barbarian?"
"Absolutely impossible——"×4
They said in unison, their expressions extremely ugly.
At this time, in the entire East Asian cultural circle, Confucianism had the right to speak, and the center of Confucianism was the Ming Dynasty.
Just like Annan, Korea, Ryukyu, etc., what they have been striving for is the title of Little China, and they all call themselves civilized countries.
Those who do not belong to the Confucian cultural circle are barbarians, such as Mongols, Jurchens, etc.
Even Japan is no exception. They also claim to be a civilized country, and their world view follows Confucianism. The Ainu people in Hokkaido are called Ezo people in contempt.
The shogun, on the other hand, is the general who conquers barbarians, commanding the warriors of the world.
Once they were expelled from the cultural circle and reduced to barbarians, wouldn't they be laughed to death?
Thinking of those Koreans calling themselves Japanese barbarians, Baokezheng and others felt ashamed and angry to death.
"Your Majesty, please rest. Such important matters must be decided by the general."
Sakai Tadakatsu can only use the drag technique.
Zhu Jing was not in a hurry and settled in generously.
The maid who received him also spoke fluent Chinese, which made him less embarrassed.
The people in the 'cabinet' sat down individually, their faces full of helplessness.
The general is only ten years old and knows nothing.
It's not up to them to decide everything.
Being kicked out of the cultural circle is a trivial matter, and it is nothing to be embarrassed about, but I am afraid of going to war.
Once the shogunate fights against Akito, it will be nothing more than victory, and it will be a little bit of a defeat. Those powerful foreign daimyo will definitely take advantage of the situation and shake the foundation of the shogunate's rule.
Therefore, the best way to maintain the majesty of the shogunate is to not fight any wars. Eighty thousand flags are enough to suppress the world.
"What did the imperial court say?"
Sakai Tadakatsu asked.
"Nowadays, the world is dominated by warriors. The imperial court is useless without a single soldier."
Abe Tadakatsu shook his head.
"But I'm afraid that the general trend will overwhelm me."
Hoshina Masayuki said softly: "Now that the general is young and Ming people take advantage of the situation, if there is another disturbance in the court, the shogunate will be unstable."
The fifty-year rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
At this time, the total height of Japan was 20 million koku, and the generals and bannermen directly received 8 million koku. In addition to the daimyō and daimyō, the total was over 15 million koku.
The total number of real foreigners is only about five to six million dan. The key is that they are far apart and the people are not unified.
Therefore, it is easy to defeat the shogunate, but it is difficult to conquer Japan! Just the hundreds of famous names in the shogunate are enough to make people vomit blood.
If you capture the general, the next day those who are close to the vassal will be able to support the new general. Relying on a strong foundation, they can still rule Japan.
More importantly, firearms are prevalent in Japan. When they invaded North Korea, their firearms were much more advanced than China's, and they also copied a large number of French cannons.
Even during the siege of Osaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu had dozens of large European-style naval guns, establishing victory in one fell swoop.
And the precious royal camp was just wasted, and both sides suffered losses.
Even if Japan is in chaos, I am afraid that a new shogunate will be established in a few decades. The new shogunate will not be as comfortable as the closed-door Edo shogunate.
Japan's land is barren, comparable to North Korea's, and its only advantageous industry is gold and silver mines.
Rather than consuming a large amount of troops, manpower and material resources, it is better to directly subdue them and include them in the Ming tributary economic circle.
To put it bluntly, if you rely solely on venting your anger and letting tens of thousands of imperial troops consume the shogunate, it is definitely the stupidest approach. If you have this energy, you might as well go to conquer the territory occupied by Tsarist Russia.
To absorb Japan and make it a minister of the Ming Dynasty for generations to come, this kind of complete spiritual conquest is far easier and more natural than war.
Zhu Jing naturally didn't know what the emperor was thinking.
In his heart, he believed that if Japan were surrendered like Korea, not only would the Japanese pirates be gone, but the whole world would really be a bright land.
"Although Japan was named king before, in the end it was just greedy for trade. This time it must subdue its country..."
He was thinking about it, but something didn't feel right.
Japanese books are written in Chinese characters, and officials also understand Chinese. Even some Confucian classics speak clearly and clearly. They understand it better than he does, so what needs to be changed?
"Yes, it's etiquette——"
He turned over and sat up: "Just like North Korea, it should be given robes to the princes, uniforms of hundreds of officials, and the etiquette conforms to the Zhou rites, then it can be regarded as a true vassal state..."
Two days later, the news that the Ryukyu Navy was passing through the Kagoshima Domain to suppress bandits reached Edo, which shocked several veterans.
"The Ming Dynasty's ships are several times the size of our country's Anzai ships. Even the Kagoshima Domain bluntly stated that its ships were equipped with Nanman cannons on both sides of the ship——"
Hoshina Masayuki said with an ugly face.
The so-called Nanman artillery refers to the dozens of heavy artillery pieces used by Tokugawa Ieyasu to bombard Osaka. Its powerful power is still shocking.
With such cannons, Edo Castle could hardly be defended, and the navy could not withstand ships several times larger.
This time, the powerful force deterred the foursome into complete submission.
In the blink of an eye, Zhu Jing negotiated with Japan to join the tribute system.
Just like North Korea, three conditions.
First, buy grain at low prices; the Ming Dynasty purchased 100,000 stones of grain for 20,000 silver yuan every year.
This will greatly improve Ryukyu's food shortage dilemma.
Second trade: Allow Ming and Japanese merchants to trade with each other without restrictions.
Third, control the water division.
Just like North Korea, Japan doesn't care about being the first to give money to buy food. Although it suffers a bit, this benefit is nothing to the shogunate.
At this time, the annual tax collected by the shogunate was approximately 500,000 to 800,000 shi, 300,000 to 600,000 taels of gold, and 20,000 guan of silver (consistently weighing seven kilograms).
If converted into silver, that would be an annual income of nearly 8 million taels, which can be said to be very wealthy.
But the reward currency represents its circulation, which means that the Ming Dynasty can indirectly exploit Japan through currency weapons, but they don't know it.
Regarding trade in Article 2, Japan allowed Ming merchants to live and trade freely in Nagasaki, but they could not travel anywhere at will and were strictly restricted.
The third article to control the navy is not approved.
Military power is the most sensitive at all times.
Zhu Jing puffed up her chest and said: "The Ming Navy is the best in the world. As long as we are here, the Western barbarians will not bully you."
"Besides, I, the Ming Dynasty, don't look down on you offshore marines. They are just in the name of joint command."
Seeing that the Japanese were still unswayed, Zhu Jing could only take a step back and said seductively: "Then, let's use an island as a naval garrison. Your country will pay half of the military expenses to defend against the enemy."
"What about the Fukue Islands just off Nagasaki in Kyushu?"
Fukue Island, one of the Five Islands, is an archipelago off the west coast of Kyushu, Japan. It is relatively deserted, but it is an island chain outside Kyushu.
"Honda Island is also fine——"
Honto Island is opposite Nagasaki.
"Just Fukueshima!"
The shogunate compromised and agreed to spend 50,000 taels of silver annually on military expenses to protect Nagasaki trade.
