The Ming Dynasty envoy Zheng Damu, who is currently in the Zheng family's house in Nagasaki Town, Japan, does not think that he is Zheng Damu, and no Japanese samurai would think that Zheng Damu is a liar!
How could the story of “Five Hundred Loyal Ministers” be a hoax?
Five hundred loyal ministers of the Toyotomi family abandoned everything when Osaka Castle fell to protect the young lord of the Toyotomi family, Lord Matsatsu, who had been in exile overseas for more than thirty years. Now, Toyotomi is finally reborn on Jeju Island in Korea—— So how could something about loyalty be false?
The Toyotomi family was so prosperous back then, and there were so many samurai who received the kindness of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When the Toyotomi family fell, there were not hundreds of particularly loyal ministers to protect the young master Kunimatsu when he fled. That is a lie. !
You must know that many of the samurai ronin who participated in the Osaka Summer Battle are still alive today, and some are even openly serving as feudal lords who participated in the siege of Osaka Castle. The Tokugawa Shogunate pardoned them in the fourth year after the Osaka Summer Battle. The Osaka remnants, so many Osaka remnants are now regarded as enemies of the Toyotomi family!
All of you retainers who have been favored by the Toyotomi family, when the master's family is in danger, all of you only care about yourself, and no one can step forward at the critical moment to preserve the blood of the master's family?
How could the great nation of Japan be filled with such ungrateful samurai?
So there must be hundreds of Toyotomi loyalists, so it would be more reasonable!
Of course, if Zheng Damu had deceived him thirty years earlier, he would have been exposed by the Japanese back then... At that time, few people believed that the desperate Toyotomi family could still get five hundred people who would never leave. loyal ministers.
But the situation is different now. During the chaotic times of the Warring States Period, everyone climbed up based on their ability. Loyalty or disloyalty had to be placed in a secondary position.
But the world has been peaceful for more than thirty years, so how can the samurai rely on deceiving the feudal lord and the general? Of course, he is extremely loyal! Moreover, those in higher positions also hope that those below will be more loyal, loyal and reliable. Therefore, up and down, we should promote loyalty together. After more than thirty years of propaganda, you have to pretend to believe it even if you don’t believe it.
So now whoever dares to say that Zheng Damu is a liar, without the Zheng family's thugs coming forward, the Japanese samurai will have to line up to fight with that person - you don't believe in the loyalty of the samurai! Is that okay? It must be punished by God!
Since all the Japanese people Zheng Damu met believed it, what reason did Zheng Damu have to not believe it?
Maybe, no, there must be a loyal minister of the Toyotomi family who rescued the orphan of the Toyotomi family during the Osaka Summer Battle for more than thirty years... Now this orphan and the Toyotomi ministers must still be hiding in Somewhere, waiting for the opportunity to revive Toyotomi.
However, there are also people in Japan who don't like the story of the "Five Hundred Loyal Ministers". This person is Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third generation general of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Tokugawa Iemitsu, who is forty-two years old this year, has an average appearance. He is the kind of ordinary middle-aged man who would be overwhelmed by the crowd in a blink of an eye if left on the streets of Edo Castle Town. He is also a little puffy, and his whole body is full of fatigue and A gloomy atmosphere.
However, such a man who does not look like a hero is the proud son of Japan. Except for being rejected by his parents when he was young because of his mediocre appearance and weak body, and almost losing his inheritance rights (later his status was consolidated due to the intervention of his grandfather Tokugawa Ieyasu), his life can be said to be smooth.
Twenty years ago, he took over the position of general from his father, Hidetada, and began to govern the world together with his father. Although Hidetada controlled a certain amount of power in the name of the Grand Imperial Palace, Iemitsu was not his father's puppet, but the father and son who ruled together. metapolitics.
Thirteen years ago, after the death of Tokugawa Hidetada, Tokugawa Iemitsu became the only supreme ruler of Japan. At this time, the Tokugawa shogunate was at its peak both in terms of financial resources and military force. As a general, Iemitsu could not only force the emperor to abdicate, but he could even help his five-year-old cousin, Prince Kokouchi, to ascend the throne of the emperor!
Just when he thought that his power in Japan would not be challenged by anyone, a boy named Amakusa Shiro, who was said to be the "Reincarnation of God" Tendo, actually started a "war" on the territory of Kyushu's Hizen Country. During the "Shimabara and Amakusa Rebellion", the powerful Tokugawa shogunate dispatched 120,000 troops and fought for several months before being able to put out the rebellion, which only involved 20,000 to 30,000 Catholic peasants. It also caused nearly 4,000 casualties.
The scale and casualties of this "Battle of Shimabara" can be compared with Osaka's Winter and Summer Formations!
But how can the 20,000 to 30,000 farmers of Hizen Province compare with the tens of thousands of samurai who defended Osaka Castle? How could Tokugawa Iemitsu, the "wise king" of Japan, not know the tricks involved?
There must have been many remnants of the Toyotomi family or rogues who lost their territory and lord after the Battle of Sekigahara and participated in the Shimabara Rebellion!
Therefore, "Mingjun" Iemitsu stepped up his suppression of the Western Kingdom after the Shimabara Rebellion (most of the daimyo of Western Japan supported the Western Army in the Battle of Sekigahara). In order to cut off the communication between those wanderers who missed the Toyotomi family and the remnants of the Toyotomi who might be exiled overseas, "Mingjun" Iemitsu also issued an extremely strict order to lock down the country. Only merchant ships from the Netherlands, China and Korea are allowed to enter Nagasaki Port for trade with Zhuyin's permission. Moreover, the scope of activities of Dutch merchants was limited to the small Dejima Island in Nagasaki, and merchants from China and North Korea were not allowed to leave the scope of Nagasaki Port Town. Moreover, reliable bannermen or feudal lords were sent to act as Nagasaki envoys in order to firmly control Japan's foreign exchanges.
Even if the remnants of the Toyotomi family want to come back from overseas, it will be difficult to contact the Toyotomi loyalists in Japan. Moreover, under the control of the Nagasaki Administrative Office, it is difficult for the Toyotomi loyalists in Japan to know the activities of the remnants overseas.
In another ten or twenty years, all the Toyotomi loyalists at home and abroad will die of old age. Even if there are a few left, they won't be able to accomplish anything big.
However, Akijun Iemitsu never dreamed that the wandering Toyotomi loyalists would actually come up with a dangerous plan to seize Jeju Island in North Korea to realize the "Toyotomi rebirth."
Although seizing Jeju Island would not hurt the Tokugawa shogunate in the slightest, it would drag down the Ming Dynasty and North Korea...
Now that the Ming Empire has sent a mission to Japan to investigate, how can the Tokugawa shogunate keep the lid on it? And just covering up won't solve the problem. If the Toyotomi remnants of Jeju Island gain a foothold and then fight back to Japan, won't things get even bigger?
Therefore, after learning that the envoys of the Ming Dynasty had brought the news that "Toyotomi was resurrected on Jeju Island", Tokugawa Iemitsu had an ominous premonition that the world would be in chaos again. So while discussing countermeasures with his close ministers, he urgently summoned Nagasaki's racecourse master to Edo Castle to explain the situation.
The day after he personally summoned Shigeyoshi Baba and finally confirmed the "Toyotomi Resurrection" incident, Shogun Iemitsu summoned the three heads of the Gosan family, Tokugawa Yorinobu, Tokugawa Yorinobu, and Tokugawa Yoshinobu, among the seven treasures in Edo Castle Honmaru. Kawa Yoshinao and Tokugawa Yorifang discussed countermeasures together.
These three "Tokugawa" are all sons of Tokugawa Ieyasu, uncles of Tokugawa Iemitsu, and also the highest-ranking feudal lords under the shogun family.
Compared with Iemitsu, who is mediocre in appearance and always looks tired, his uncles, who are only slightly older than him in the past three years, are all handsome, energetic, and look more like wise kings.
However, facing the sudden "Toyotomi's resurgence", the three of them also found it very difficult. The three of them looked at me and I looked at you, and they didn't know what to say for a moment.
After a while, the lord of the Kishu domain, Tokugawa Yorinobu, said to Iemitsu: "My Lord, when I moved to Kishu, I swore to defend the Western Kingdom at all costs. Now is the time to fulfill my oath. Please give me an order." I order you to lead an expedition to Jeju Island!"
Of course, he didn't really want to go to war, but he was stating his position, and he wasn't worried about backfiring because he had a very reliable younger brother.
Tokugawa Iemitsu nodded happily. Just when he was about to order Tokugawa Yorinobu to send troops, Tokugawa Yoribo of Mito Domain spoke: "Don't rush to send troops, Daigon. Jeju Island is not Japanese territory, and it hangs overseas. Send troops to Jeju." It is very likely to cause conflicts between Japan, Ming Dynasty and Korea."
Iemitsu was a little disappointed, while Yorinobu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart - he knew that his little brother Yorifusa could be relied on... because when Tokugawa Ieyasu died, he ordered Yorifusa and his descendants to be passed down from generation to generation. Serve as the deputy shogun of the shogunate and assume supervisory responsibilities.
Therefore, when it comes to issues involving sending troops overseas, Tokugawa Iemitsu cannot ignore Tokugawa Yorifusa's suggestions. And Laifang is a stable person and will not easily provoke a foreign war.
