"Your Highness, in fact, Japan is the most progressive country in East Asia! As early as the era when the gods ruled Japan, your Ambassador Hasekura led a huge mission to New Spain and Europe, and met with Philip III of our country. The King and the Pope. To this day, some members of the Japanese mission who followed Ambassador Hasekura to Spain remain in Spain, waiting for the new Japanese mission. Because the waiting time has been too long, some of them have already Spain married wives and had children, among whom were descendants of Ambassador Hasekura.
It is a pity that Japan has not been able to continue the path of openness and progress. Instead, it has closed the door to exchanges with the world because of its hostility to Catholicism. This is actually completely unnecessary! Even the Ottoman Empire, which most hated Catholicism, had friends in Western Europe. Your powerful neighbor, the Celestial Empire, also has serious disputes with Rome over the issue of patronage, but Jesuit missionaries can still access the court in Nanjing. There are Jesuit missionaries serving in their Taixue, Jingxue, and Shanghai universities. , belief in God will not be punished by death. Therefore, the Chinese Empire has been able to absorb knowledge, technology and experience from the West in these years, and in a very short period of time it has transformed from a backward, ignorant, and declining country into the world's leading power. And such progress should have appeared in Japan..."
The person who was speaking to Date Tadamune in a tone full of regret and in fluent Chinese at the Sendai residence in Edo was of course the Spanish envoy Caballero.
The current domestic situation in Japan is in the calm before the storm. Only the most core members of the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as Masayuki Hoshina and Mitsukuni Tokugawa, who were assisting the government, knew that a great chaos was inevitable. Others, even Date Tadamune, the lord of the Sendai domain who was very close to the shogunate, did not feel that a war was about to break out.
As for Caballero, who visited Japan, he didn't know much about the situation in Japan. He was a China expert, not a Japan expert. So he couldn't possibly know that this country is full of martial arts at first glance, has a population comparable to France, is rich in precious metal resources and is known as the land of gold, and is located on several large islands far away from the East Asian continent, surrounded by oceans. Why can't Japan, surrounded by the world, become a great power that can curb the expansion of the Chinese Empire to the other side of the Pacific?
In Caballero's view, Japan only needs to open its doors like the Ming Dynasty, introduce Western technology and experience, establish a navy and a European-style army, and then it can actively intervene in the affairs of the East Asian continent, just like the United Kingdom did with the European continent. , take advantage when it is profitable, withdraw in time when things go wrong, and use the benefits from the European continent to continuously strengthen themselves.
His words were translated into Japanese by Hasekura Tokitada, his son in Japan. Date Tadamune was expressionless and seemed to have no interest in the rise of Japan described by Caballero.
After a while, the wise ruler of the Sendai clan spoke up: "Your Excellency, Ambassador, your purpose in coming to Japan is to hope that Japan will follow the example of the Ming Dynasty and fully open up to the world?"
Hasakura Tokitada translated the feudal lord's words into Chinese - he was an academic officer of the Sendai Domain, proficient in Sinology and Orchidology, and could also speak Chinese and Dutch.
"Your Highness," Caballero said, "If full opening up is difficult to achieve for the time being, then we should expand opening up. First of all, we should allow Westerners to enjoy the same treatment as Ming people, and allow Westerners to travel freely to Japan like Ming people. Open ports; secondly, we should increase the number of open ports, and add Osaka and Uraga ports as development ports in addition to Nagasaki. Westerners should also be allowed to move freely within the open ports instead of confining them to a small area. within the region; thirdly, Japan should have its own independent diplomatic line. It should not and does not need to follow the Ming Dynasty in diplomacy! Especially in the upcoming war between the Ming Dynasty and Spain, Japan should abide by its neutrality to avoid getting burned. !”
Date Tadamune was still like a wooden man. Hearing some threatening words from Caballero, he had no intention of getting angry.
There was still silence for a while, and then he said to Caballero in a calm and unruffled tone: "Your Excellency, Ambassador, it is possible to expand opening up. After all, Ming Dynasty has already taken the lead on the issue of opening up. As for the independent diplomatic line , This is indeed what Japan has been pursuing for hundreds of years, but we are not in Europe. We are too close to the Celestial Empire and too far from heaven!
When the dynasty rises to power, no one can be independent...not even Japan! "
Caballero frowned and was silent for a while, then said: "Does His Highness mean that the shogunate can meet the requirements of the Kingdom of Spain on the issue of expanding opening up?"
"That's... the shogunate is willing to expand opening up!" Date Tadamune nodded, "but the shogunate will still strictly restrict the spread of Catholicism!"
Caballero was secretly relieved. As long as Japan expanded its opening up, he could hire a certain number of rogues from Japan to serve as mercenaries. Fifty thousand people were impossible, but a few thousand people could still do it.
...
"Your Excellency, I think you don't know much about Japan's national conditions. Japan... is actually a nihilistic concept, a place name! In Japan, there is no Japanese army and no Japanese local officials. , although there are Japanese court officials, they don't care about anything. As for the emperor, haha, government orders do not leave the imperial palace! Although the shogunate can order the vassals, it cannot completely control the actions of each vassal. Especially in southwest Japan There are many powerful vassals in the area, which are enough to resist the shogunate's decree."
"Your Excellency, you should understand that it is impossible for the Celestial Empire to conclude any treaty with the nihilistic Japan. Even if it is concluded, it will be a piece of waste paper! The Celestial Empire can only conclude a treaty with the shogunate or the powerful southwestern vassal, and can only choose one of them. Either the shogunate or the powerful vassal!"
At the same time, in Mito Residence, Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Sakai Tadakiyo were explaining Japan's national conditions to Wei Zaode - Japan is a place name, a sovereign country and so on... Europe has a little concept, East Asia We don’t understand this at all, let alone non-interference in internal affairs.
Therefore, in the view of Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Sakai Tadakiyoshi, there is no diplomacy between the Ming Dynasty and Japan at all, only diplomacy between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Celestial Empire!
Of course, in the eyes of Guangguo and Zhongqing, the Celestial Empire is not a sovereign and independent country, but just a court that orders the world!
The concept of "Tianxia" may or may not include Japan... For the Tokugawa Shogunate, the key issue was how to maintain the feudal system headed by the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Therefore, what the shogunate is pursuing now is not a treaty between Japan and China, but a treaty between the shogunate and China!
Wei Zaode asked thoughtfully: "Can't the Emperor of Japan be demoted to the King of Japan? Isn't this okay?"
Sakai Tadakiyoshi smiled: "The emperor who demoted the emperor to a king is also a traitor! When he became the king of Japan, at most he would be regarded as a traitor... Since he is still a traitor, why not become the king himself? ?”
Tokugawa Mitsukuni said: "Either don't do it, or if you do it, don't leave any room! Otherwise, the Tokugawa family will be doomed... Anyway, those are the powerful vassals in Japan that oppose the Tokugawa family, regardless of the Tokugawa family No matter what they do, they will overthrow the emperor! So the Tokugawa family might as well attack first and eliminate them all, and then proceed to eliminate the remaining power of the powerful southwestern lords, depose the emperor, and let the shogun ascend to the throne!"
"Is that so?" Wei Zaode hesitated, "This way no one will resist?"
"There will definitely be one!" Mitsukuni Tokugawa said, "Just eliminate them! The key to the problem now is whether the Emperor of Heaven is capable of supporting the Tokugawa family!"
Sakai Tadakiyoshi said: "If the Tokugawa family fails, Japan will become an empire that cannot be matched by the Celestial Empire! Then there will be no end to the struggle between the Celestial Empire and Japan! Japan has a population of 20 million and hundreds of thousands of Samurai, and being far away from the mainland, can easily get support from Western countries! Although the Chinese military force is strong, it may not be able to conquer Japan!
Therefore, supporting the Tokugawa shogunate to defeat the southwestern heroes and establish the Kingdom of Japan is the most beneficial thing for the Celestial Empire! "
