The congratulatory envoy sent to Nanjing by the Tokugawa shogunate was Tokugawa Mitsukuni, the heir of the Mito Tokugawa family, one of the three imperial families. This candidate was decided upon by a group of senior shogunate officials after half a month of discussion.
First of all, Guangguo is a master of China. He is proficient in Sinology, familiar with Confucian classics, and has done a lot of research on "Zi Lun Ge Wu Pian". He is also proficient in arithmetic and French. Basically he is a top student! The dream of the top academic Guangguo is to study in China and enter Taixue, the holy land of top academics in East Asia!
So he is very willing to go to China to have a look.
Secondly, Mito Mitsukuni’s identity is also suitable. The heir to the Gosan family, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was a core figure in the shogunate, and his seniority was high enough. At the same time, after all, he had not yet ascended the throne, and he had not been awarded a high-ranking official position by the court.
Sending him to visit China not only shows that Japan attaches great importance to the Ming Dynasty, but it is not too cheap.
After all, the Ming Dynasty did not send anyone to congratulate Emperor Gonishi on his accession to the throne. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also unilaterally lowered Japan's "national character", downgrading Japan from an emperor's country on equal footing with the Ming Dynasty to an independent power... This move It seems natural to China, but to the shogunate it is also a secret pleasure - the shogunate does not want the Chinese empire to pay attention to the emperor!
If the Chinese Empire supported the Emperor, it would be in big trouble! Because those villains who conspire to bring down the country in Japan usually use the banner of respecting the emperor! And the Celestial Empire is now the leading brother in East Asia, with a bunch of subordinates. Although this matter has nothing to do with Japan, there are a group of unscrupulous foreign daimyo and ronin who will use the Celestial Empire's attitude towards the emperor as a weather vane - —Did you see that the emperor is already valued by the Celestial Empire, but you Tokugawa family are actually bullying the emperor? You are an internationally recognized traitor!
Therefore, a group of senior shogunate officials are relatively satisfied with China's policy of ignoring the emperor... Of course, this satisfaction can only be kept in their hearts, but cannot be shown on face! Otherwise, people will say that he is a traitor!
Therefore, the shogunate could not send too important people to the Ming Dynasty to congratulate the victory to show their unhappiness.
In addition, Mito Mitsukuni is famously smart! He is the smartest person in Japan, so he was sent to the Ming Dynasty for another mission, which was to explore the relationship between the Celestial Empire and the Satsuma Domain!
What is the relationship between China and Satsuma Domain? This makes the shogunate veterans very troubled!
With the strength of the navy and army of the Celestial Empire, it should be easy to drive the Satsuma Domain out of the Ryukyu Kingdom, right? Moreover, the Ryukyu people have always been pro-Ming and platooning Japan, so they should have begged China to send troops long ago.
But the Celestial Empire accepted the situation of co-administration of the Ryukyu Kingdom with the Satsuma Domain... This is simply incredible!
How could the majestic Celestial Empire tolerate half of the vassal state that had been surrendered to it for more than 200 years being occupied by a Japanese internal vassal?
How can this be? How could this not be a conspiracy?
"Marquis of Xiamen, what does the Emperor of China want to do with the Ryukyu Kingdom?"
In the Japanese embassy in the outer city of Nanjing, near the Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty, Tokugawa Mitsukuni immediately smelled a conspiracy when he heard the visiting Zheng Jiangong talk about the issue of formal co-administration of Ryukyu.
This is a conspiracy!
Zheng Jiangong smiled: "Of course it is co-management between the two countries. The emperor of our country is willing to have good relations with Japan. Because our country and Japan now have a common enemy, our two countries are already allies, and half of Ryukyu has another What are you reluctant to part with?"
Do you think I'm a fool? As soon as Tokugawa Mitsukuni heard Zheng Jiangong's words, he immediately knew something was wrong.
Half of Ryukyu... to whom? To Japan? Sorry, Japan is just a place name!
This half of Ryukyu can only be given to the Shimadzu family! The Tokugawa shogunate was simply out of reach! And if you still keep half of it, doesn't this mean you have maintained a window for communication with the Shimadzu family?
If the Shimadzu family loses half of Ryukyu, or gets the entire Ryukyu family, it will be difficult for you Ming Dynasty and Shimadzu family to collude, so you only give half and half...
Tokugawa Mitsukuni seemed to have a clear conscience, but he was still respectful on face, and asked: "The common enemy mentioned by the Marquis of Xiamen is..."
"Of course it's Spain!" Zheng Jiangong said. "Spain is ambitious and wants to promote their Catholic religion all over the world. They also want to use Catholicism to disturb the hearts of Buddhist countries like us, so that we will be in chaos without a war. If Our country was defeated in the war with Spain. Can Japan still resist the Spanish invasion?
You have three hundred feudal lords in Japan, and all of these feudal lords are loyal to the general? Are there not a few people with ulterior motives who want to use the support of Catholicism and Spain to bring down the country? "
Tokugawa Mitsukuni thought: Although there are three hundred feudal lords in Japan, the shogunate is really worried about only one Satsuma clan! This Satsuma clan is not colluding with Spain now, but is very close to your Ming Dynasty...
Guangguo looked at Zheng Jiangong and suddenly asked: "Marquis of Xiamen, I wonder if you have ever seen Ukita Hideie?"
"Yu Xita..." Zheng Jiangong's face changed slightly. Why haven't he seen that old man who loves to eat? Alas, I have been very ill recently. I have diabetes and am so skinny that I won’t live long. But he finally ate enough rice before he died, and it was worth it!
"I haven't seen it, I haven't seen it!" Zheng Jiangong shook his head quickly, but how could the changes in his expression escape Guang Guo's observation?
Tokugawa Mitsukuni just looked at Zheng Jiangong and remained silent.
Zheng Jiangong felt very uncomfortable when he looked at him - Tokugawa Mitsukuni's eyes were very sharp, as if he wanted to see through people when he stared at them, which made people uncomfortable.
So Zheng Jiangong wanted to end the meeting early, so he said: "I also said to the emperor that as long as Japan is willing to support the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty can improve Japan's national identity and recognize Japan as the country of the emperor like the Ming Dynasty. In the future, the emperor will Foreign countries can call themselves emperors of Japan!”
What!
Tokugawa Mitsukuni was shocked!
The Chinese Empire recognizes the Emperor as the Emperor of Japan... This will greatly enhance the Emperor's prestige!
And now, in the letter of credence given to Japan by the Emperor of China, it is General Tokugawa who is called Shogun, instead of calling the General the King of Japan or the Maharaja of Japan. Historically, Emperor Yongle once consecrated Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as the King of Japan. Therefore, in the diplomatic exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, the shogun was always called the king. The shoguns of the Tokugawa shogunate claimed to be princes in diplomatic activities.
However, Zhu Cixiang chose to call the leader of the Tokugawa Shogunate the Japanese Shogun. Although this was the most correct title, the general was lower than the king, and the Japanese emperor was the king of the generals!
Now that the Ming Dynasty wants to officially recognize the Japanese emperor, and also calls the leader of the Tokugawa shogunate a shogun, it is equivalent to putting the emperor above the shogun!
And this is not only the view of the great emperor, but the view of the entire East Asian world... And this view will definitely affect the powerful daimyo and ronin in Japan!
Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who was almost certain that Zhu Cihong was going to stir up the domestic situation in Japan, remained calm and said to Zheng Jiangong: "Marquis of Xiamen, I understand... I will accompany the Marquis of Wei on his mission to Japan and make arrangements. He will meet with His Excellency the General and His Majesty the Emperor. But before I leave Nanjing, I hope to see the Emperor once more."
"Okay, I will definitely try to make it happen!"
...
When Tokugawa Mitsukuni saw Zhu Cixiang again, the location had been transferred to the racecourse of Laoshan Palace. Emperor Zhu did not formally receive him, but invited him to ride a Yangma at the racecourse.
As they rode, the two talked about their future friendly relationship.
Emperor Zhu had heard about the reputation of this Japanese academic master in his previous life, so he summoned him many times when he heard that the academic master Guang Guo was visiting. The two of them were already familiar with each other, so they talked more casually now.
"Guangguo, I heard that the current shogun is a bit stupid and is known as the stupid master. Is this true?"
Guangguo frowned slightly: "Your Majesty, the public is not stupid, but he is as wise as a fool!"
Zhu Cixiang shook his head: "The king of a country must be smart! Because it is very difficult to govern a country. You have to face various internal and external problems, and you must answer them correctly and carefully. And the internal and external situations your country is facing today , it is extremely complicated, and there must be no mistakes! Do you understand? If the father-in-law is stupid, those of you who make the decision for him must be smarter!"
