"The Japanese envoy... has an audience..."
Amidst the singing of the eunuchs in front of the palace, Matsudaira Takemoto and others slowly lined up from the middle to the middle path.
At this time, the eyes of the officials of the Yi Dynasty in the palace were looking at them with complete hostility. If it were not for the fact that there were many foreign envoys in the hall, the ministers would have behaved badly in front of the palace. If word spread, they would be angry with the Yi Dynasty. Their face was greatly damaged, and these officials might go up and beat up Takemoto Matsudaira and the others.
In addition, many of the envoys looked at them more with ridicule, and some envoys hoped to see Japan be tougher and launch a war against Yi Dynasty to show their strength, so that they could fight against Yi Dynasty. How strong is the real strength of the dynasty?
When thinking of Takehei Takemoto's instructions just now, Shinagawa Nobukata and several others had a slight hesitation on whether to salute Zhang Rui. But they soon saw that Takemoto Matsudaira, who was standing in front, was bowing obediently, and they followed suit without any hesitation.
"The Japanese envoy, Matsudaira Takemoto and others have met His Majesty the Emperor of China. Long live His Majesty the Emperor of China." At this time, Matsudaira Takemoto changed from his previous arrogance and bowed honestly.
Zhang Rui looked at the five Japanese people who were bowing, and still said without any emotion: "Tingshen!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty, Emperor Tianchao." After saying that, Songping Wuyuan and others immediately straightened up and looked at Zhang Rui on the dragon throne.
He is really young, much younger than the future lord Tokugawa Ieharu. But the achievements achieved now are much higher than those of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the shogunate.
"Japanese envoy, what are you doing here?" Zhang Rui asked as usual without paying attention to their expressions.
"We are following the orders of General Tokugawa Ieyasu, General of the Edo Shogunate's Right Guards and Conquering the Barbarians, and we are here with the credentials of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. We want to ask why His Majesty the Emperor of Japan sent troops to attack the territory of Satsuma Domain, a foreign daimyo of the Empire of Japan. Regarding this matter, I hope His Majesty can give Japan an explanation." After saying that, Matsudaira Takemoto lowered his head and signed the letter of national sovereignty.
"This is the credentials of my Majesty the Emperor. Please see it for His Majesty the Emperor of China."
"Did our country send troops to Japan? Why didn't I know about this?" Zhang Rui said, slightly signaling to the eunuch in front of the palace. Ask him to get Japan's credentials.
Zhang Ruida really wanted to see what nonsense could be written in it.
After the eunuch took the certificate of credence from Matsudaira Takemoto, he opened it and roughly checked its safety, then quickly put it back into the envelope and held it up to Zhang Rui.
Zhang Rui took the Japanese credentials held up by the eunuch and unfolded them.
The font is clear and neat, and not a single word is the katakana Japanese of later generations. They are all square and traditional Chinese characters.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruilai has been here for a few years, and all he has been exposed to are traditional Chinese characters. Although he may not necessarily be able to write traditional Chinese characters, it seems that there is no problem at all. So there will be no embarrassment of not understanding the article.
There is not much text on the whole piece of paper. It starts with a few polite greetings to express congratulations on the establishment of the Yi Dynasty. Of course, the posture is in a overlooking state.
"The Beauty of the Sun and the Moon"
Then he expressed his condemnation of the Yi Dynasty's action of sending troops to Ryukyu to attack the Satsuma Domain, and asked the Yi Dynasty to apologize to Japan for this incident, and compensate the Satsuma Domain and the shogunate for the loss of one million taels of silver. They also need to pay tribute to 100 beauties every year. Otherwise, Japan will not be sure what drastic actions it will take, and then Dayi will face uninterrupted attacks from a powerful enemy from the sea.
Zhang Rui couldn't help but sneered after reading it, and asked Takemoto Matsudaira standing below: "Japanese envoy, is the content of this credential true?"
"Yes. This comes from the letter of our Emperor." Takemoto Matsudaira couldn't help but feel a little proud when he saw this, feeling that Zhang Rui was going to be manipulated by this letter of credence.
"Okay, very good. Ever since I took a broken knife to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, I, Zhang Rui, have never been looked down upon by anyone. Even Qianlong did not dare to ask for compensation and tribute in front of me. I never thought that I would let you, a little Japan How dare you come up with such wishful thinking." Zhang Rui said, waving to the eunuch beside him to convey Japan's credentials to the officials of the Ministry of Rites.
Some things need to be known to others and spread out, otherwise some people will have to spread rumors that Zhang Rui is an arbitrary and bellicose emperor.
The best way to silence others is for the enemy to give you the most suitable excuse.
"The Ming Dynasty can refuse to make peace, make indemnities, cede land, or pay tribute. The emperor will guard the country and the king will die. How can I, the Ming Dynasty, lose my integrity? You are lucky. I don't want to kill you now. Go back and let you The emperor of Japan and the general of the shogunate have washed their necks and are waiting for me. I will let my warriors of Dayi go to Huihui your Japan to see how powerful your Japan is. If you dare to pay compensation to me, Zhang Rui, and pay tribute to beautiful women, Require."
"Your Majesty, we in Japan don't really want to pay compensation and pay tribute to the beauty, but we just want the Yi Dynasty to give us Japan a step down. After all, Japan can't just be beaten for no reason."
Seeing that Zhang Rui was serious, and thinking about the scene where several countries had just asked to join forces to fight Japan, Takemoto Matsudaira couldn't help but panic, thinking that he had to fight for it quickly to avoid conflict with Yi Chao now.
If Takemoto Matsudaira was tough when he was fighting against Nishio Tadashi when he was in the shogunate, then how humble he seems to be when he speaks now. And these unconfidences stem from his understanding of Yi Chao's strength these days.
"Stairs? Why do you, Japan, have the dignity to ask for so-called steps? You have been invading our vassal country for hundreds of years, and you are still preparing to destroy other people's clan. I just sent troops to help them drive you away. It is already very serious that you did not knock on the door. Restrained."
"You robbed someone else's home and treated it as yours? How dare you shamelessly ask me why I beat you? The logic of shameless gangsters like you in Japan is really good, since you all said that I beat you You, then I have no choice but to help you." Zhang Rui replied.
"Your Majesty Da Yi, are you saying that Japan is easy to bully? Meng Yuan was so powerful back then that he couldn't defeat Japan at once. If you are a new Da Yi, Japan will be afraid of you? I hope you won't do it yourself." Remembering that Japan was still blessed by the "divine wind", Matsudaira Takemoto became more courageous again.
"Okay, let's wait and see! Give it away." Zhang Rui issued an eviction order.
At this time, all the officials of the Ministry of Rites who had read the Japanese credential looked at the Japanese envoy coldly, and even cursed. And Matsudaira Takemoto and others could only leave in disgrace.
Soon, the issue of Japan's credentials was spread, causing an uproar in the outside world.
After learning about it, many people in the Yi Dynasty ran to the Japanese Huitong Hall, which had just been opened, and cursed them non-stop. If Zhang Rui hadn't ordered someone to keep an eye on Songping Takegen and others to prevent anyone from "making a fuss about the war between the two countries and not killing them", they might not have been able to get out of Guangzhou.
