On the second day of April, a delegation sent by the Emperor of Japan arrived in Nanjing.

Since the Ming army bombarded Edo, the stronghold of the Tokugawa shogunate, causing Japan to sign an unequal treaty, ceding Kyushu, Shikoku, and a large number of traitorous conditions, the prestige of the shogunate's rule in Japan has declined rapidly.

As a result, some ambitious feudal lords and daimyo felt that the time had come to fall the shogunate, and they opposed the shogunate's rule under the banner of "honoring the king" and demanded that the Tokugawa family "return the great government" to the emperor.

The ambitious Emperor Shaoren seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and took the initiative to secretly win over the daimyo of the various feudal clans who were dissatisfied with the shogunate.

The two sides hit it off, and soon the emperor was surrounded by the fallen feudal lords, who openly fought against the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, centered on Kyoto, where the emperor was located, and the daimyo who were waiting to see were also ready to move.

Shaoren also wanted to cut the feudal domain at first, but found that he had no soldiers in his hands, and was almost held hostage by a few ambitious daimyo and became Emperor Xian of Han.

Fortunately, Shaoren excited, left a hand, took the initiative to seek the help of the Ming Dynasty, and escaped with the help of the Ming army stationed on Kyushu Island.

Since then, Shao Ren realized that he was a puppet without soldiers in his hands, and no matter which big name won it, it was also Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms.

In the past two years, Emperor Shohito, who had obtained the "Shinsutra" many times, began to exert himself to govern the country, motivate troops and horses, accumulate grass and grain, and soon completed the integration of the Daimyo of Tosei, and actively launched a war against the shogunate to control the military power.

However, the foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate was very thick, and even if it was destroyed by the Ming army that year, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, and the emperor's fallen alliance was almost overturned.

This time, the Japanese emperor sent a delegation to Daming, mainly to buy firearms from Daming and enhance the combat effectiveness of the army.

"Shaoren wants to buy 10,000 muskets, 30,000 earth-shattering thunders, and 100 artillery pieces? Do you want me to send officers to guide them in military training? ”

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cihong's surprised voice came.

Honglu Siqing replied: "Back to Your Majesty, those Japanese envoys said so, and their attitude was very humble. ”

Zhu Cihong smiled: "It seems that this guy Shaoren has taken out all his family resources to complete the reunification, and he has the courage!" ”

Mao Xiang said: "The Wa King has grown a lot over the years, and the minister is worried that if we provide them with arms, their balance of the Tokugawa shogunate will be broken. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded thoughtfully, in his plan, Japan is one of the goals of the Ming Dynasty's conquest, and once there is a huge turbulent change in Japan, it is the time for the Ming Dynasty to prepare accordingly.

Now Shaoren's kid can't wait to prepare for a decisive battle.

I still remember last year, Zhu Cihong received information from Japan, a Japanese daimyo proposed that the emperor use the power of the Ming army to suppress the Tokugawa shogunate, but Shaoren vetoed it, only strengthened trade and cultural exchanges with the Ming Dynasty, and asked for help to send troops without mentioning it.

At the beginning, Shaoren had the intention of asking the Ming Dynasty to send troops to eliminate the Tokugawa shogunate, but in the past two years, he has grown up, and his heart has become more and more mature.

In addition, once foreign aid was brought in, the nature would change, and if the shogunate advertised that he was colluding with foreign enemies to invade Japan, he would become a traitor to Japan in no apparent way, and the emperor's prestige in Japan would inevitably plummet.

Once a person is in power and is in a certain position, he thinks more about not only personal fame and fortune, but also the safety of the country.

With the growth of Shaoren, he gradually changed from being close to the Ming to using the Ming, and he used the power of the Ming to suppress the Tokugawa shogunate, so that the shogunate did not dare to act easily against himself during the strong period, giving the emperor's power a chance to breathe, and giving himself enough time to coordinate and develop his power.

Similarly, the Ming Dynasty's use of Japan is even more undisguised.

For the Ming Dynasty, it was not a good thing for the Ming Dynasty to be most happy to see the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Fallen Shogunate Alliance fight to the death, and no matter which of them wins, it will re-stabilize the situation in Japan.

Under the strong external pressure of the Ming Dynasty, it may promote the awakening of the Japanese nation.

As an island country, Japan's awareness of the sea is naturally much sharper than China's, and little Japan is a nation that is good at learning.

It is entirely possible that they will copy the Tenmu New Deal to Japan as it is, actively carry out trade and exchanges with the West, open up the sea to the sea 200 years ahead of schedule, and embark on the road of modernity.

When several cabinet ministers objected to the sale of arms to the Japanese emperor, Zhu Cihong said: "Sell to them!" Didn't they ask for 10,000 muskets? We sold him 20,000 sticks! And artillery, sell as much as you want! ”

"Huh?"

Yang Shicong asked a question, causing everyone to look sideways, and even Zhu Cihong frowned.

Zhu Cihong ignored him and continued: "We can sell to the Shogunate faction, and we can also sell to the Tokugawa Shogunate arms, let them fight, and fight until the Japanese chaos!" ”

This kind of play is borrowed from later generations of Americans, who continue to create regional tensions and take advantage of the opportunity to sell arms, which can not only achieve political goals, but also make a lot of money.

"Oh!"

Yang Shicong let out a long sigh, revealing a look of sudden realization, as if he had been baptized by Zhu Cihong's words.

Zhu Cihong glanced at him, and felt that this scene was familiar, this Yang Shicong's performance was very long!

When Yang Tinglin, Li Yan and others said that the emperor had betrayed the arms, they quickly thought about the emperor's reason, they were all elites of the empire, and they quickly thought of this, but they were not as good as Yang Shicong.

On the fart of mixed officialdom, Yang Shicong is called second, and no one dares to call it first.

Zhu Cihong nodded and said, "Very good, this time to sell arms to Japan, you can't use Heding rifles, let the Ministry of War pull a few boats of equipment eliminated by our regular army and sell them to Little Japan!" ”

20,000 muskets and 1,200 cannons were just a reorganized division's firearms configuration for the Ming Dynasty, but they were a decisive force in Japan.

After Japan's repeated defeats to the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese feudal lords began to pay attention to the manufacture and use of firearms, and their weapons manufacturing technology was very backward, and they could only make old-fashioned arquebuses.

Even the Tokugawa shogunate, which had the best military know-how, was able to produce flintlock pistols in recent years, but the production was limited and completely unable to supply the army for large-scale installation.

This huge number of "advanced" firearms is absolutely attractive to all the Japanese forces, and everyone wants to change the balance of strength between the two sides.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty recovered Taiwan, expelled the Dutch, defeated Luzon, killed the Spaniards, and the Portuguese on Macao were also transferred to India due to the recovery of the concession, and the maritime trade in the entire East Asian region was basically controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the Japanese have no other place to buy arms from the Ming Dynasty, either to be abused by opponents with advanced weapons, or to find the Ming Dynasty to become stronger!