Edo, castle tower.

Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth shogun of the Edo shogunate, was looking for what appeared to be a Confucian book with the words "Six Commandments" written in Japanese on the cover.

In fact, the Six Oracles was originally written by Fan Hong, a beginner in the Qing Dynasty, as a book to teach the people, and was later printed and brought to the Satsuma Domain by the Ryukyu envoy Cheng Shunnori, and finally presented to Tokugawa Yoshimune by Shimazu Yoshiki, the lord of the Satsuma Domain.

When Tokugawa Yoshimune received the book, he was so impressed that he ordered the Confucian scholar of the time, Murohatosu, to translate the book into Japanese and call it the Six Oracles, and to popularize it as a textbook for Terakoya, and he would read it in his own spare time.

As a Tokugawa shogun who had been in office for eight years, Tokugawa Yoshimune had always had a good reputation among the common people, and because of the reform of the peace of mind, the price of rice in Japan was stabilized, so the common people were also called "rice shoguns". However, it was not easy for Tokugawa Yoshimune to be where he is today, and he went through a lot of hardships.

Tokugawa Yoshimune came from the Kii Tokugawa family of the Imperial Three Family, and was the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son of the first shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, but Tokugawa Yoshimune's mother was born poor, so his status was not high, basically similar to an illegitimate child, but fortunately, Tokugawa Yoshimune recognized his father Tokugawa Mitsusada at a very young age, so he received a good education.

In the early years, Tokugawa Yoshimune was not called by this name, but Shinnosuke, and later after Motofu, because he was not the eldest son, he was named Matsudaira Yorikata. This situation lasted until the second year of Baoei, that is, the forty-fourth year of Kangxi, when Tokugawa Yoshimune, who was only twenty-one years old, became the governor of the Kii Tokugawa family and changed his name to Tokugawa Yoshimune.

Until the sixth year of Zhengde, that is, the fifty-fifth year of Kangxi, the general's family was extinct, and Tokugawa Yoshimune succeeded to the post of general as a virtuous marquis and became the eighth generation of generals.

However, the Tokugawa shogunate, which was handed over to Tokugawa Yoshimune, was a mess in itself, and due to financial bankruptcy, Tokugawa Yoshimune took the lead in living a frugal life, usually wearing only ordinary cotton clothes, and eating only two meals, mainly brown rice and vegetables, as a way to reduce expenses.

Now in the eighth year of his succession, Tokugawa Yoshimune advocated the implementation of the Kobo reform for eight years, and although the shogunate's finances have improved to a certain extent, it has not fundamentally solved the problem, so this time he sent Matsudaira Tsunayoshi to Nanjing to find a solution.

Judging from the news from the last time Matsudaira Tsunayoshi came back, Ning Chu itself is generally more supportive of the Tokugawa shogunate, of course, on some details of the matter, the two sides need to communicate more.

And this time, Ning Chu arranged for the prince to visit Japan, which itself had this purpose, so it also made Tokugawa Yoshimune excited, and perhaps through this mission, Tokugawa Yoshimune was able to find a better solution for the shogunate.

"General! Checkmate! Ning Chu's envoy is here! ”

Just as Tokugawa Yoshimune was pondering, the voice of the shogunate elder Nakamino Tadayuki came from outside the door, and he walked in excitedly, and then knelt down in front of Tokugawa Yoshimune, with a little joy on his face.

"Oh. Is it coming? Then bring it with you! ”

Tokugawa Yoshimune breathed a sigh of relief, and then stopped Mizuno Tadayuki, who was leaving, and said softly: "Matsudaira Tsunayoshi wrote a letter to this shogun a while ago, saying that the matter of the Satsuma Domain must be resolved, and this matter has not been resolved, and I am afraid that there is no room for discussion even if the envoys of the Celestial Empire come." ”

Hearing that it was about the Shimazu family of the Satsuma Domain, Mizuno Tadayuki couldn't help frowning slightly, and sighed: "General, I'm afraid I can't give a good suggestion on this matter, so it's better to call the other three elders over to discuss it together." ”

In the shogunate system, the highest official position of the assistant shogun is called the elder, which is mainly responsible for governing all the affairs of the shogunate, and the status is above the elder, but because of the excessive power, one person will only be established in special periods, and usually not established, and under the elder is the elder.

Therefore, when the Daikosho was not established, the Laochu was the highest official position of the shogunate, responsible for the affairs of the whole country, and usually set up four or five Laochu, who took turns to manage different affairs through the monthly system, and in principle, they were selected from among the daimyo of the 25,000 koku realm or more, which could be called the shogun's confidant and think tank.

In the current Tokugawa shogunate, there are a total of four people in the old middle, namely Mizuno Tadayuki, Ando Nobuyo, Matsudaira Nori and Matsudaira Tadashi, and Mizuno Tadashi is talking about the other three, like Matsudaira Toriyi and Matsudaira Tadashu all belong to the Tokugawa family, and the right to speak is no less than that of Mizuno Tadashi.

Tokugawa Yoshimune nodded, "It's okay, arrange for the performer Fanmizuno Nagahide to receive the envoy of Ningchu, and hold a banquet in the evening to celebrate the arrival of the envoy." ”

"Yes, General."

After waiting for a long time, the other three old middle schools also arrived, and they were all in their fifties, all of whom were promoted by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi after succeeding to the throne.

"I've seen the general!"

After the three of them finished saluting, Tokugawa Yoshimune briefly talked about Ning Chu's envoy, and then told him about the Satsuma Domain, and finally sighed: "This matter is very important, and I would like to ask a few elders to tell me what you think." ”

Although there is no distinction between the old and the middle, there is also a situation of seniority, so the other three still set their sights on the oldest Mizuno Tadayuki.

Mizuno Tadayuki had no choice but to sigh softly: "The Satsuma Domain lives in the westernmost part of Japan, and it is far away from my shogunate, but after all, it is also my shogunate's internal domain, if you ask the Satsuma domain to apologize and compensate for this matter, I am afraid that it will not be convincing to the public." ”

Tokugawa Yoshimune sighed lightly, but he didn't speak, because Mizuno Tadayuki's words were very vague, and it was no problem to understand it from any angle, but he didn't really say anything.

In the Edo period, the closer the daimyo clan was to the shogunate, the closer it was to Edo, and the more distant the relationship, the farther away it was from Edo.

If there is only this sentence, it can also be explained that Mizuno Tadayuki is inclined to order the Satsuma clan to compensate, but it is followed by a sentence that the Japanese internal domain will not obey the public, which means that he is afraid of offending other vassals and is also worried that he will give the emperor a chance to intervene.

Seeing that Mizuno Tadayuki's words were not leaky, Ando Nobuyo couldn't help but feel a little helpless, compared to others, his opinion was much more decisive, "Now there are always problems in the shogunate's finances, if we can connect Ningchu, then my shogunate's income can be increased a lot, and the financial scarcity can be alleviated....... Besides, dealing with the Satsuma Domain was originally what my Tokugawa shogunate should have done. ”

Nobuyo Ando's opinion is that there is no need to be polite to the Satsuma Domain, after all, no matter what the other party says, he is not satisfied with the appearance of the shogunate, and there is nothing wrong with being able to take this opportunity to strike.

On the contrary, Matsudaira Tadashu, who was a close branch of the Tokugawa family, spoke out against it, "General, if it is said that the Satsuma Domain is an internal trouble, then my Tokugawa family can still suppress it, but if an external trouble like Ning Chu is introduced, I am afraid that the world will be in chaos." ”

Of course, they understood what Matsudaira Tadashi meant, and they could find a way to calm the internal troubles at any time, but if the external troubles were introduced, it would not be so easy to deal with.

After Matsudaira Tadashi finished speaking, everyone looked at Matsudaira Chengyi, after all, the current situation is a left and right, and the other two are-for-tat, and the opinion of this last person has become very critical.

Matsudaira Chengyi frowned, "Now that the envoys haven't met yet, isn't it too early?" If the other party's requirements are not so strict, the shogunate has room for slow change in how it is handled, and if it is too strict, even if it is forced, it will not have any effect. ”

After listening to the opinions of these four people, Tokugawa Tsunyoshi's face did not change at all, and he said softly: "Since you don't have any good ideas, let's see you first, as for whether it will work or not, you still need to ask His Majesty the Emperor for approval." ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the four people present changed, and there were naturally sorrows and joys, and the joy was that the problem could be pushed on the emperor's body, and there was no need to worry about offending Ning Chu; Sadly, this would increase the prestige of the emperor and the government, which was not a good thing for the shogunate's courtiers.

It's just that there is no better way at the moment, and it can only be so, so the four old middle schools chose to retire together and prepare to participate in the dinner party in the evening, and the mystery will be revealed at that time.