When Liu Zhaosun delivered an impassioned war speech to his soldiers on the coast of Kyushu, the biggest target that the Kaiyuan Army wanted to conquer - Edo Castle thousands of miles away - was still calm and peaceful.
People used to call this most populous city in the world (at least until the end of the seventeenth century) the city at the feet of the general.
It can be seen that the shogun's feet are very big.
All kinds of people gathered in this city.
The huge group of warriors brought about by the pilgrimage and confession system;
Businessmen from Omi, Ise, Kyoto, and Osaka;
Prosperous to the extreme, the day is like the paradise world, and the night is like the Yanliu Lane in the realm of the Dragon Palace and the prostitutes in it.
Of course, there are those Edo children who spend money like water. The rule they believe in is "money doesn't last until it's spent."
The story of Edo begins on August 1, the 18th year of Tensho (1590).
Tokugawa Ieyasu led his army to leave the Five Kingdoms territory and move to Kanto. From then on, with Edo as the center, he began his legendary journey to conquer the world - it should be noted that the so-called world in Japan is about the size of a province in the Ming Dynasty.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's deeds in unifying Japan will not be described in detail here.
Later, a mad song (note 1) sang like this:
"Oda pounded the rice, Hashiba kneaded the noodles, and Tokugawa opened his mouth to eat it."
This song compares the process of unifying the world by Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi (Hashiba) Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu to making rice cakes.
As we all know, Oda Nobunaga and Toyonari Hideyoshi worked hard and made great achievements in the process of unifying Japan, but the results were enjoyed by Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Of course, the reality may not be as sung in the mad song, and the Tokugawa family's process of conquering the world is not as simple as swallowing the cakes made by others.
At least six years after the violent death of Tokugawa Ieyasu, his successor, the second-generation general Tokugawa Hidetada, began to suffer from nightmares.
It can be seen that cakes in this world are not so easy to eat.
Under the gloomy night, Edo City, a city with a population of one million, gradually fell into sleep.
Honmaru Palace.
The shogun once again fell into nightmare.
Under the towering Mount Fuji, the armor inlaid with the Tokugawa family's crest was broken into pieces, like withered cherry blossoms.
The corpses of samurai were laid out from Satsuma Domain to Edo Castle, and were laid at the feet of Tokugawa Hidetada.
Tokugawa Hidetada was barefoot and disheveled, waving his fingers like dead branches, screaming wildly, and the rumble of cannons came from all around the sky, and white gunpowder smoke and red flames burned through the sky.
Blood washed up on the coast like a wave, and the place where the sea and the sky met was so red that it was hard to tell whether it was human blood or haze.
Hidetada looked back and saw that the Nikko Mountain where Ieyasu was buried collapsed and exploded silently. The huge coffin was dragged out by the barbarian soldiers, and his father's rotting body was exposed...
"ah!"
Tokugawa Hidetada woke up from a nightmare, his Tsukiyo head soaked with sweat.
General Zhengyi looked at the flickering candles in the distance with great fear in his eyes.
"What did you see in your dream?"
Asai E, the royal wife of the general (the general's wife), asked calmly while wiping her husband's sweat.
Xiuzhong looked at the woman's pale makeup and dark teeth. This seductress who was older than him was also one of the sources of his fear.
"Hell, what you see is hell."
In April 1605 (the 10th year of Keicho), Tokugawa Ieyasu gave up the position of shogun to his son Hidetada, thus announcing the hereditary power of the Tokugawa clan to the world.
Ieyasu is said to be behind his son, but he does not really disappear behind the scenes. Instead, he continues to control the overall situation of the world in a capacity similar to that of a regent.
It wasn't until half a year later that the old shogun suddenly had a stomach problem.
His belly was as bloated as a drum, he could not eat, and he was getting exhausted day by day. The medical clinic was unable to save him, so he soon drove to the west.
There is a rumor in the room that Chaya Jiro, a wealthy businessman in Kyoto, often serves sea bream tempura to Ieyasu-sama.
Tempura is a common food.
With Tokugawa Ieyasu's noble body, it was hard for his noble stomach to tolerate low-grade food, which led to disharmony between the spleen and stomach, so he died in the West.
Of course, only his son Hidetada knows the reason for Tokugawa Ieyasu's sudden death.
"I dreamed that the barbarians from the west fought from Kyushu to Kaga, Kyoto, and Edo. I dreamed of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. I dreamed that the crest of the Tokugawa family turned into ashes."
Tokugawa Hidetada looked at his woman in horror, as if grasping a life-saving straw.
Asai was six years older than Tokugawa Hidetada. Her first marriage was to her cousin Saji Kazunari, and her second marriage was to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew, Toyotomi Hidekatsu.
The third time, she was finally the wife of the second-generation general Tokugawa Hidetada.
People in Edo praised her for being as gentle as a willow tree. Although Hidetada had two adulterous affairs and even brought an illegitimate child into the Honmaru Palace, she was like a willow tree swaying in the wind, always able to endure hardship and overcome toughness with softness.
Of course, these are just the beautiful images of the most powerful woman in this great society (note 2), shown to outsiders.
What her true face is, only the shogun himself knows.
At this moment, Ajiang stared at Tokugawa Hidetada and said word by word to this husband who shared the same bed with him.
"Changmatsumaru (nickname: Hidetada), you murdered your father, exiled your brothers, defiled Daou, and killed believers. You have committed heinous crimes, but you have never repented. This is the first time in twenty years that I have seen you so scared! Have you ever experienced Sekigahara? Will the heroes of the Battle of Osaka be frightened by the dead in their dreams?"
The shogun was shocked and murmured:
"You don't know, the barbarians from the west, they are coming."
"Perhaps this is God's punishment for you Tokugawa clan. When Ieyasu conquered Gyeonggi Province and attacked Otani Castle, he killed my father and brother and kidnapped me to Edo, whereupon I became your wife."
Tokugawa Hidetada gradually recovered from his nightmare and was about to lift the pillow. Ajiang took the first step and held the dagger in his hand. When Hidetada stood up and prepared to take the knife, the sharp blade of the dagger was already pressed against his throat.
"My husband only has nightmares occasionally, but I have been trapped in nightmares for sixteen years."
The shogun looked at the sharp blade seeping into his skin, and watched as the blood gradually seeped out. His legs were already weak, but no sound came out of his throat.
The graceful and charming Ae lifted up the hem of his kimono and controlled the frightened shogun under him. In this kind of game between the two, this charming woman from Otani Castle always had the advantage.
·······
Tokugawa was sweating profusely.
"Husband, let the disobedient Western troops in Kyushu resist the barbarian invasion. Only when both sides are hurt can the shogunate army enter their hinterland and truly control Kyushu."
"Are the British willing to go to war? And the Dutch too."
"Then it depends on what conditions the shogunate offers them?"
"I will allow their trade in Japan."
Ajiang packed up his kimono and suddenly said:
"I wonder if the old monk on the volcano is still in Edo Castle? He should be able to eliminate my husband's nightmare."
Note:
1. Karage, a short song with the purpose of joking and comedy, originated from the drama songs of "Man'yoshu" and the comic songs of "Kojin Wakashu". It became popular in the Tenmei period in the middle of Edo.
2. Ooku: During the Edo period, the residences of the Tokugawa shogun's biological mothers, children, main wife (Odaisho), side rooms, and female officials (called "Oku no Chu"). It also refers to the "harem" of the shogunate's family, where the maids and concubines lived.
