Looking at the pale faces of the group of bureaucrats below, Zhu Youxiao sat on the dragon chair, but smiled, the bureaucrats are like spinning tops, and they have to whip them from time to time, so that they can not forget their duties when they are exercising.

Looking at the Greater Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple, which have played a huge role, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but think in his heart, "When the next term of the first assistant and the cabinet is replaced, the level of these two people can be improved, and the constraints on the cabinet will be completely formed, and the troika of the government will be formed!" ”

After Cao Yubian went down, his side was almost empty, except for the people in Dali Temple, other subordinate departments of the cabinet were launched, and there were also people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate who also had such treatment, and it was obvious that from today onwards, these two departments and other officials were clearly distinguished, not all the way.

This is different from the examination of the Ministry of Officials, the most serious examination of the Ministry of Meritorious Service is also aimed at official positions, at most it is not allowed to allow future generations to take the imperial examination and other soft knives, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple are different, they represent the law, once violated, it will directly affect the officials themselves, and no matter who you are, you will inevitably be imprisoned.

Moreover, these two departments are relatively independent, except for the highest official positions of the central government, in the localities, they are of the same grade as the local civil officials, and the finances are all allocated by the central government, directly from the Ministry of Finance to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and then issued to the localities, and their promotion, appointment, and dismissal do not go through the hands of the local officials, so it can be said that except for the pressure exerted from the central government, the local officials cannot help these two departments at all.

Financial independence, personnel independence, no direct leadership, under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor, this characteristic, so that the Imperial Procuratorate and Dali Temple have a transcendent status.

Maybe other officials didn't see this, but Xu Guangqi was vaguely aware that this was the emperor's means of balancing the cabinet, the Dadu Governor's Mansion was, and the Dali Temple Metropolitan Procuratorate was also.

This is the so-called imperial art, the way of balance, otherwise the power of the cabinet will be too great, all government affairs, all the cabinet, if it is out of control, the consequences are unimaginable.

After the summary report of the three of them is over, it is the tribute of Fanbang, of course, it is okay to say that it is to collect protection money.

"Meet His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, may my emperor live long live long live!" Champang, Chenla, Siam, Quang Nam, Annam, Cao Ping, a series of small countries in Indochina.

Of course, the things they offered were still similar to last year, rice, beauties, deep mountains and trees, gold and silver, etc., but among these envoys, another completely different country was mixed, so that Zhu Youxiao could see it at a glance.

"Who is next to the envoy of Annan?" Zhu Youxiao asked curiously.

"Satsuma Domain's envoys to His Majesty the Great Emperor." The Japanese in kimonos knelt down. As soon as the other party said this, Zhu Youxiao suddenly came over, no wonder he looked at the other party's clothes a little familiar, it turned out to be a kimono, and he hadn't seen something familiar to future generations for a long time, which made him a little forgotten.

"Satsuma Domain, isn't it the Daimyo of the Wa Kingdom that Zheng Zhilong and the others fought at the beginning?" Zhu Youxiao has also heard of the name of the Satsuma Domain, but it is limited to the name and the ruling family, it seems that the main family is called Shimazu?

"Wait a minute, what's the matter?" Zhu Youxiao asked, it seems that during the winter solstice of the previous year, it was also this Shimazu family who took pictures of the world to come over to pay tribute, but after the result came, the tribute was not much, but they had to pay back the tribute, and they had to support, and asked the Ming Dynasty to restrain their pirates and the like.

It really made Zhu Youxiao angry, so he didn't have a good tone when he asked.

The envoy also heard that the Ming Emperor's tone was not good, and he secretly complained in his heart, this was really a chore. However, he still endured a slight panic in his heart, and knelt down and said, "The small country of Fanbang implores the Ming Emperor to send troops to help. ”

In 1609, the first lord of the Satsuma Domain was Shimazu Tadashi, and in 1609, he sent his subordinate Kayama Hisataka to occupy the Ryukyu Islands and included them in the territory of the Shimazu family.

Subsequently, the Ryukyus remained under Japanese control, but in the present era, the Shimazu family's plans were defeated by an unexpected rebellion.

Two years ago, Nanzhili rebelled, and there was a Wang Siyuan, who unified the Fujian pirates, but before it could be of much use, he died, and the pirate forces he left behind were divided into three, one stayed in Penghu, one stayed in Dayuan, and the other fell in love with Ryukyu and settled there.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Satsuma Domain, although it was strong, it was only on the road, and it was not possible at sea at all, and it had long lost the sea power that it had when it was in turmoil in the southeast during the Jiajing period. was easily defeated by Xu Xinsu and driven out of the Ryukyus.

Then, these three people were known as the Three Kings of the East China Sea, blocked the shipping routes again and again, did business with Westerners, and fell in love with the wealth of the Japanese Kingdom again and again, plundered one after another, and even logged in to fight, wanting to obtain a base.

In this case, the Satsuma Domain, which was closest to the Ryukyus, was the first target and was attacked the most often by the combined forces of the three people. But fortunately, pirates are pirates, although they can dominate the sea, but they are not powerful on land, and although the three kings of the East China Sea are numerous, they are still fought by the Satsuma Domain.

Under the heavy losses, the two are at a stalemate, and there is a feeling that they want to die down, and in this regard, Shimazu Tadashi is naturally willing not to provoke disputes.

Later, they were at peace, guarding their own territory, recuperating and accumulating strength. And the three kings of the East China Sea saw that this bone was too hard, so they didn't gnaw it, and plundered and occupied other places.

It's just that their combat effectiveness on the road is too poor and they have not succeeded, so after a while, Zheng Zhilong and Yan Siqi were recovered by the Ming Dynasty, and Xu Xinsu was shown to the public. Naturally, the Satsuma clan knew about this change for the first time, and then they were worried about the Ryukyus again.

And the good news is that the king of Ryukyu Shangfeng was killed in the melee, and they ruled Ryukyu without hindrance, so they naturally rejoiced, but they didn't expect that in the end, the navy of the Ming Dynasty came and stopped directly on the main island of Ryukyu and did not leave, and also built fortifications, and finally, a large number of immigrants were transported from the mainland to occupy this place.

Well, since Da Ming wants it, then I won't covet it, let's live a good life. It's just that the Satsuma clan wanted to live, but someone didn't let him live, and the Tokugawa shogunate directly colluded with foreign enemies and took off the hat of plotting against him, so he sent troops to levy it.

Well, it's actually to see the loss of the Satsuma Domain's troops, and check the soft persimmon pinch. Of course, the choice to send troops at this time to conquer the Satsuma Domain was also due to the transfer of power in the Tokugawa shogunate.

In the same year, in 1623, the third year of the Apocalypse, Tokugawa Hidetada passed the position of Shogun to his son Tokugawa Iemitsu, and he moved to the Imperial Palace, starting the dual politics of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Of course, the real power was still in the hands of Tokugawa Hidetada, and Tokugawa Iemitsu, as a great shogun, had nothing to do on the one hand, and on the other hand, in order to establish his prestige, so he launched a war against the Satsuma Domain.

Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu was a direct jurisdiction of the shogunate and an important treaty port, where Koreans and Ming as well as Westerners traded. Ships came and went frequently, so the shogunate sent troops in, and it did not attract the attention of the Shimazu family until the outbreak of war.

The envoys of the Shimazu family came together with these beginnings and ends, so that Zhu Youxiao understood the reason.

It's just that Zhu Youxiao has no interest in Japan's civil war at all, similar to Annan, Japan has formed its own culture, its own writing, and its own language, and the upper class is not valued by the Ming official dialect and writing, which is completely different from Korea.

North Korea is basically a little China, speaking Chinese, learning Hanzi, and reading the Analects of Zhu Zi and Wang Yangming, so there is no difficulty in ruling Korea directly, as long as North Korea's own language and writing are not allowed to spread. But Japan is different, and it is simply not able to occupy and rule.

Zhu Youxiao has always had little interest in the land that cannot be occupied, and at the most time he has asked Japan to submit, sign a vassal agreement, and open treaty ports for business, and deal with it in a manner similar to that of Annam and Quang Nam.

Therefore, he yawned without interest and refused, "Satsuma envoy, I am afraid that you have found the wrong person, I am not interested in Japan's internal affairs. ”

After speaking, he waved his hand, wanting to let the envoy go down, as for the tribute paid by the other party, I'm sorry, Zhu Youxiao has never had the habit of spitting it out in his pocket.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty." The Satsuma envoy shouted anxiously, for fear of being kicked out. The Satsuma Domain suffered heavy losses this time, and although it was not destroyed, the loss of the territory of one or two feudal states was inevitable.

At this time, the Shimazu family ruled three feudal states, Satsuma, Hinata, and Osumi, and if they were defeated and defeated, I am afraid that both Hinata and Osumi would be taken away.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Great Emperor, the ......... of Japan" The envoy was in a hurry, and he couldn't think of anything in the country that could attract the Ming Dynasty. In the end, he still had a flash of inspiration, thinking of the silver dollars that are now circulating in the Ming Dynasty, minting a large number of exquisite silver coins, presumably the Ming Dynasty is very short of silver.

"Your Majesty, there is a large amount of silver in Japan, especially Iwami Ginzan, with an annual output of millions of taels of silver, and the Shimazu family is willing to help His Majesty the Great Emperor obtain these." The envoy made a wish. You must know that Iwami Ginzan is on the island of Honshu, and it is not at all that the Shimazu family in Kyushu can touch, how can he help Zhu Youxiao get it.

"Wait." It's just that after listening to his words, Zhu Youxiao's eyes lit up and stopped the ceremonial personnel who were about to blow away the Satsuma envoy.

Seeing this scene, countless officials suddenly couldn't bear to close their eyes directly, and they knew that His Majesty understood the heart of the merchants, just like last year, under the lure of the Zheng clan of Annan, he acquiesced to the coup d'état of the other party, and this time he was also moved by the large amount of silver of the Satsuma envoy.

"Your Iwami Silver Mountain is still mining?" Zhu Youxiao asked with interest, he had also heard of the name of Iwami Silver Mountain, it was said that the mining volume at that time accounted for one-third of the world's silver production, but he didn't expect this silver mountain to produce again.

What he didn't know, of course, was that the production of this silver mountain had reached its end.

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