This guy, Baba Juri, is really confused. He never doubted that the Toyotomi Yitada on Jeju Island was fake from the beginning to the end... Just because of his thinking, he should find a place where no one is around to commit seppuku. !
However, he did not use a knife to cut his belly, but happily went to Moji Port with Daming's request to meet Mito Nakato and Matsudaira Izumomo who were slowly coming.
In fact, Baba left Edo Castle on the same day as Mito Nakaton and Matsudaira Izumomo. But his identity is different from those two. He is just a bannerman, and he can go on the road with three or five retainers.
And Tokugawa Yorifusa was one of the extremely noble three imperial families, the deputy shogun of the shogunate, and the lord of Mito!
When he goes out, the pomp is huge, and hundreds of retainers follow him. The journey along the way was as majestic as sending troops to fight. Moreover, he had to pass through the territory of many vassals along the way, and those vassals had to entertain him grandly - Lieutenant General, who dares to neglect? And there is also the extremely fierce Matsudaira Nobutsuna following him!
So they naturally took their time eating and drinking all the way. They set off at the end of August and did not arrive in Kyushu until the end of October after crossing the Kanmon Strait. The elders of several Kitakyushu feudal clans (the feudal lords were rarely present in the clan due to the attendance system) all came to Moji Port to receive him. As Nagasaki is enshrined in Nagasaki's rule of thumb, of course we have to go and greet him.
In Moji Port, in the Jinya arranged by the Ogura clan, Baba Shigeri happily reported his diplomatic work report card to Tokugawa Yorifusa and Matsudaira Izumomo.
"Nakamatsu, Izushou, and the lower officials tried their best to convince the envoys of the Ming Dynasty that the remnants of Toyotomi on Jeju Island were also enemies of the shogunate..."
"Oh," Tokugawa Yorifusa nodded and looked at the beaming racecourse, "Shiri, is there any good news?"
"Hai!" Baba nodded heavily, took out an envelope from his arms, raised his hands above his head, then kneeled on his knees to Yorifu, and handed the letter over. After receiving the letter from Lai Fang, he knelt back and returned to his original position.
Laifang took out the letter and took a look at it, his face suddenly changed, "Generalissimo Fu Jun to Japan's General Conquering the Barbarians? This is..."
"The Grand Marshal of the Fu Army is a military position held by the regent crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, and his status is equivalent to our country's general who conquered the barbarians!" Ba Changzhongli smiled, "But what the official brought was a copy, and the original is still with the Ming Dynasty envoy Zheng Sen’s hands.”
Matsudaira Nobutsuna interjected at this time: "Is Zheng Sen the son of Zheng Yiguan?"
"Exactly." Ba Chang replied, "Now Zheng Yiguan has achieved great success in the Ming Dynasty and became the lord of Quanzhou, while Zheng Sen became the lord of Taiwan. In addition, one of Zheng Yiguan's daughters also became the concubine of the regent crown prince. !”
"How could this happen?" Matsudaira Nobutsuna asked.
Machang replied: "Because in the past two years, the Ming Dynasty has also entered the chaotic times of the Warring States Period! First, the rogue bandits rebelled and occupied the city of Beijing. Later, the Tatars entered the pass and took over half of the north. The prince of the Ming Dynasty gained the support of loyal ministers and good generals. He established the Southern Ming Dynasty in the southeastern half of the country with military power. Not long ago, he severely damaged the Tartars and killed the Tartar emperor's brother, which has the potential to revive. However, the Zheng family is rich and powerful and dominates the ocean, so it is not enough to be reused. Surprising."
Matsudaira Nobutsuna asked: "Since the Ming Dynasty has entered the chaotic times of the Warring States Period, how can it still have the energy to intervene in what happened on Jeju Island?"
"I'm afraid Zheng Yiguan and another group of pirates, the Haisha Gang, who were used by the Ming Dynasty court, are behind the scenes, right?"
Shigeri Baba also thought it was a bit strange, but he was also a samurai who was very clever with his brain, so he came up with an answer.
Matsudaira Nobutsuna thought about it and felt it made sense, so he stopped interrupting.
At this time, Tokugawa Yorifusa had already read this letter drafted in the name of the Grand Marshal of the Fujun of the Ming Dynasty to the Japanese General who conquered the barbarians.
In the letter, the Generalissimo of the Ming Fu Army made three demands to the Japanese general who conquered the barbarians: first, send an envoy to Nanjing to explain the "Jeju Island Incident" to the Ming Dynasty court; second, withdraw all Japanese samurai on Jeju Island and move Jeju to The island was returned to North Korea; third, a mission was sent to North Korea, accompanied by officials from the Ming Dynasty, to apologize to the victimized North Korea!
This is a bit difficult!
Tokugawa Yorifusa couldn't help but frown.
The first one is easy to say, as long as you don't send envoys to serve as ministers.
And the Jeju Island incident needs to be explained! This matter has nothing to do with the Tokugawa shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate has no intention of invading Jeju Island or Korea. The world of the Toyotomi family was torn to pieces because of the "Battle of Keichang and Bunroku", and it was only given to the Tokugawa family. Got a chance. Could the Tokugawa shogunate not learn a lesson?
The second thing is that the Zheng family has to send a fleet! Otherwise, if the Tokugawa shogunate's troops could not reach Jeju Island, how could the Toyotomi Yitada "withdraw" there?
But the third rule is absolutely impossible... How can this be possible? How can Japan apologize to North Korea?
Japan is an imperial country, a first-class power on par with Ming Dynasty! North Korea is a kingdom, and it is not an independent kingdom. It is second-class to Japan. It deserves to be cut down by Japan. How can it apologize?
"You must never apologize!" Tokugawa Yorifusa handed the letter to Matsudaira Nobutsuna, "You can consider the other two items."
Matsudaira Nobutsuna said: "Last year, through connections, Zheng Yiguan purchased a large number of iron cannons from the shogunate, which should be to help the Ming Crown Prince fight the war. At worst, the shogunate will export another batch of iron cannons to them... As long as they don't Apologize to North Korea and everything else is easy."
Tokugawa Yorifusa thought about it and thought it was feasible, "That's it...Izu Mamoru, let's set off as soon as possible."
...
Nagasaki, Zheng's house. Zheng Sen, who met the racecourse profiteer again, looked puzzled after learning Tokugawa Yorifu's opinion, and just shook his head: "You don't want to apologize? You did something wrong, why should you be ashamed to apologize? As for the empire, it's still Is the kingdom that important?”
"The shogunate must maintain the dignity of Japan," Baba Toshige explained, "so an apology is not feasible... As for everything else, it is easy to negotiate."
"Others? For example..."
"For example, the shogunate can sell another 10,000 iron cannons to your country." Baba said the conditions proposed by Matsudaira Nobutsuna.
Zheng Sen looked indifferent, shook his head and said: "But our country does not need your iron cannons... I purchased your iron cannons before for emergency purposes. But your iron cannons are too weak and cannot be fired. Using the Tartars' shield chariots and thick armor, now that the situation is no longer critical, our country can slowly build more suitable iron cannons, and we no longer need the iron cannons provided by the shogunate."
What he said was half true and half false. Japanese iron cannons were indeed not very useful and were not as good as Spanish light matchlocks. But these days, musketry is a craft job. It takes at least three years for a master to lead an apprentice, right? Production capacity is not increasing so quickly. So importing is still necessary! However, it took too long to import them from Europe through the Dutch. If you want to expand the scale of the "Model Army" as soon as possible, you still have to buy Japanese iron cannons.
But is Zheng Sen a treacherous businessman? Of course, he couldn't just let the horse racer see his trump cards casually.
"No more?" The racecourse's profit was a little embarrassed, "Then does your country have any other requirements?"
"I am just an envoy," Zheng Sen shook his head. "Some matters require your country to send dignitaries to Nanjing to talk to His Highness the Crown Prince... In order to facilitate exchanges between the two parties, I would like to set up an embassy in Edo. .”
"The Edo Embassy?" Zheng Sen smiled, "It's just a temporary embassy... If the two countries want to join forces to use troops against Jeju Island, they need to have a communication channel, right? This is the purpose of the embassy."
The horse farm was overjoyed when he heard this: "What do you mean by your envoy, have you agreed to provide the ship?"
"As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince agrees, my family will have no problem," Zheng Sen said with a smile. "In addition, my family's ships are both commercial and military. If they are used to help Japan transport troops, it will be difficult to make money... .”
"I understand, I understand." Baba smiled, "The shogunate will not let the Zheng family's hard work go in vain."
"There are two more small requests," Zheng Sen said. "My mother is currently living in Nagasaki and cannot leave Japan to reunite with my father. I hope the shogunate can make it easier.
In addition, Shichizaemon is now also an official of the Ming Dynasty. He will be stationed in Edo later to be responsible for liaison with the shogunate. Therefore, Japan must recognize his envoy status.
As for the apology, I can try to deal with it... I will never make it difficult for the general to step down. "
