"My lords, I wonder what you think of the Etomo wanting to invade Japan?" In the parliament, Tadamitsu Ooka, the side servant, was relaying the words of Tokugawa Ieshige.
Tokugawa Ieshige was a well-known articulate general in Japan. When he spoke, his pronunciation made it difficult for those around him to hear clearly what he wanted to express. This made officials of the shogunate and even ordinary civilians regard it as a joke.
Originally, it would have been impossible for Tokugawa Ieshige to sit on the shogunate with such a shortcoming. If his father had not insisted on the "legacy succession" system and forcibly passed the shogunate to him, he would not have been able to sit on this shogunate. job.
In his position, he had to do his own thing. Although Tokugawa Ieshige was unclear in his speech, he could make people understand his meaning by writing documents. But as the shogun, keeping silent is not an option.
At this time, he continued the side employment system started by his father Tokugawa Yoshimune and a person appeared: Ooka Tadamitsu.
Ooka Tadamitsu was the only one among the important servants of the Tokugawa family who could quickly understand what he wanted to express in his unclear language.
Therefore, the appearance of Ooka Tadamitsu is like a magical beam of light, shining on Tokugawa Ieshige's shortcomings in life and making up for his unclear speech. Ooka Tadamitsu was highly valued by the Tokugawa family, almost to the point of being inseparable from him.
Of course, Ooka Tadamitsu, who was so highly regarded by Tokugawa Ieshige, would also have a lot of real power, so he would personally act recklessly and issue many wrong and chaotic policies, which led to what happened in Japan when Tokugawa Ieshige was in power. There were many "Ikaku" turmoils, and these infamous Tokugawa Ieshige also had to bear a lot of them.
However, for Tokugawa Ieshige, who had been suffering from the inability to communicate normally with others, he was unwilling to punish Ooka Tadamitsu as long as it was not a very serious matter. So much so that later on, without Ooka Tadamitsu around to translate, Tokugawa Ieshige would basically not hold any discussion meetings, even if the meeting was just to discuss matters with two or three Lao Chinese on duty.
"Your Majesty, General, I believe that this matter cannot be groundless. We need to make plans early." The newly appointed young veteran Matsudaira Takemoto stood up and replied.
"I wonder if Matsudaira-sama has any countermeasures?" At this time, Ooka Tadamitsu on the side once again relayed Tokugawa Ieshige's words.
"I think that since the people of Japan now know about this, we will not hinder it from spreading it. We are currently in a passive period, so the top priority is to send an envoy in the name of the emperor to question the monarch of the Yi Dynasty, Zhang Rui What does it mean to rashly launch an attack on the Satsuma Domain of Japan? Do you want to be an enemy of our Great Japanese Empire?
At the same time, it was necessary to increase taxes on the money and food needed for the war, so that the daimyo of each domain could prepare for war and be ready to go to war at any time. Because these require a lot of time, it is better to do it sooner rather than later. "Matsuhira Takemoto said.
"Matsuhira-sama's response method is very good. Do you have anything to add?" Ooka Tadamitsu continued to relay Tokugawa Ieshige's words.
"Back to your highness, General, this is all I can think of for the time being." Matsudaira Takemoto bowed and bowed.
"Very well, Nishio-sama, I wonder if you have any opinion?" The Tokugawa family turned to the elderly Nishio Tadanobu who was sitting aside and asked.
At this time, Nishio Tadanashi, who was sitting there thinking about something, turned his head and looked at Tokugawa Ieshige.
Even though the Tokugawa family seemed to be coping well now, in fact, he was panicking in his heart.
He was frail and sickly since he was a child, and had unclear speech. When he was young, he indulged in wine and sex in Da'ao (similar to a harem). He also suffered from permanent urinary incontinence and was nicknamed "Pee Gong Fang" by the folks.
To say that he has not made any major achievements in the fifteen years since he took office till now, it is true that he has not.
His only achievement was to bring about a relatively smooth decline in the decline of the entire Edo shogunate.
This was due to his continuing to implement the "Hōho Reform" of his father Tokugawa Yoshimune, who was known as the "ancestor of the ZTE" in the Edo shogunate, and continued to use the "side employment system" to maintain it.
But even so, after Tokugawa Ieshige himself enriched the "Kanding Ginmi Service" during Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's period and carried out several independent economic policies.
In the fifth year of Horeki (1755), due to crop failure, the farmers of the Horetsu domain opposed the tax increase and land inspection of the feudal lord Kanamori Norikin, and demanded exemption from labor. This triggered a riot known as the "Ichiku" of Horetsu Gunjo, which caused social disruption. The uneasiness increased again.
This shows how mediocre Tokugawa Ieshige's qualifications were. So what he shows now is just a result of the teachings his father Tokugawa Yoshimune gave him when he was alive.
As for Tokugawa Yoshimune, no matter how you look at it, many generals in the entire Edo shogunate can be regarded as a very outstanding one, and his achievements are not as good as Yongzheng of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
You must know that the Edo shogunate began to decline after the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.
Although the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi later took office, he attached great importance to civil affairs and created the "Government of Tianwa". However, he was only good at academic research and read poetry and books but was ignorant of the sufferings of the people. He often made unwise decisions that were harmful to him. .
Not only that, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi also allowed Oku to be extravagant and even allowed his mother to participate in politics, causing the shogunate's finances to continue to deteriorate. At the same time, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi also initiated the side-employment system and did not control the number of people. The numerous side-employees' salaries deepened the shogunate's fiscal deficit.
Later, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi even promulgated the most bizarre "Human Mercy Order"①, which made people throughout Japan complain.
Although the Tokugawa shogunate's governance was slightly better after his son succeeded to the throne and his grandson for more than three years.
But what was left to Tokugawa Yoshimune at that time was still a mess.
Under this circumstance, Tokugawa Yoshimune still used a series of operations to stabilize the stable situation of the entire Edo shogunate and improve the shogunate's finances that were originally in deficit.
It can be said that Tokugawa Yoshimune's achievements among all the shoguns are still remarkable.
In his later years, Tokugawa Yoshimune naturally understood that it would not work to expect the Tokugawa Ieshige with countless shortcomings to become a talented family head, but he fell in love with Tokugawa Ieharu, the son of Tokugawa Ieharu.
For example, it is rumored that Kangxi took a fancy to Qianlong, which means the same thing.
For this reason, he had to pass the position of shogun to Tokugawa Ieju, so that Tokugawa Ieju could make a transition and pass the position to Tokugawa Ieharu, whom he was optimistic about.
Of course, things also proved that Tokugawa Yoshimune's vision was better than Kangxi's. At least Tokugawa Ieharu did not disappoint Tokugawa Yoshimune.
But these are another story.
Therefore, since the Tokugawa family took over, he has understood that he only needs to be a conservative leader and listen to the opinions of the elders in everything. He does not need to take too many actions, so that he will not have any problems. Blunder.
Note ①: Biological Compassion Order: A very strange prohibition. At the beginning, it only prohibited the indiscriminate killing of dogs. Later, it also included cattle, horses, cats, fish, etc. Even killing mosquitoes could be punished.
