In Ningyu's plan, Japan and Burma are two good experimental subjects, but these two countries cannot be generalized, so the methods of dealing with them cannot be the same.

In any case, Japan's military strength and potential are not comparable to those of Myanmar, so to deal with Japan, we can only choose to focus on politics and supplemented by military, on the contrary, Myanmar can completely eliminate it through military sweeping, and then exert political influence to digest it.

Using an improper metaphor of Ning Yu to trust, in these countries in East Asia, most of them are delicate and weak and easy to push down, but Japan is the only one, a little Lori with a small knife, although the force is just like that, but if you don't get it right, you will be able to cut your hand, so the best way is to exert influence, first remove her little knife, and then slowly adjust.

The only thing that worries Ning Yu after all is that while training Japan, it is easy to have some things that he doesn't want to see, such as the fall of the king, such as the Meiji Restoration, and the collective civilization of the Japanese samurai class.......

You must know that this scene itself is extremely easy to appear, the reason is very simple, there is such a teacher as Ning Chu next to Japan, after the Japanese see the changes that have taken place in China, they will naturally want to learn from it, and then make a 2.0 version in Japan, and then they will find that the current Japanese political system will become an obstacle for them.

It should be noted that for the samurai, whether it is to choose the emperor or the shogunate, it is very possible, even if Ning Yu supports the shogunate in advance, then history is likely to be another - the shogunate completely deposed the emperor system and achieved de facto unification.

Therefore, Ning Yu's purpose is by no means to help one side kill the other, but to maintain the balance of power, the current emperor is weaker, then support the emperor more, and when the shogunate is weaker, then support the shogunate, not to mention that there are still so many vassals in Japan that can be used.

As for the deeper things, Ning Yu has not thought of anything further now, after all, the great cause of the Northern Expedition has not yet been completed, and for things at the East Asian level, it is enough to intervene in one hand, and if there are more, they will not be too busy.

...............

The State Guesthouse, located in an alley in the area of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has some small buildings made of blue-gray bricks and stones, the layout inside is not luxurious, it can only be regarded as passable, this is also to uphold the concept of economy in Ningyu, like that kind of luxurious decoration is not only not seen here, even the palace is not visible.

Because the state guesthouse is a separate area developed for foreign guests, it is not like the post house outside the city with so many people, and the reason why it has just been renovated makes the whole small building seem a little deserted, and there are not too many people.

However, in recent days, it has welcomed many people, including the Japanese emperor, the Tokugawa shogunate, and the envoys sent by the Lê and Nguyen clans, and they are not small, but the area is quite lively, and there are many more small traders in the streets.

However, although there are many small traders, there are also many shadows and secret agents of the military intelligence department, who prick up their ears and open their eyes wide, so that they can dig out some unimaginable information from these missions.

In the small A-shaped building of the State Guesthouse, Xue Guoyun, deputy director of the Department of Japan and South Korea of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was talking with Matsudaira Tsunayoshi, an envoy representing the Japanese shogunate, with a smile on his face.

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi came to Nanjing as an envoy for the second time, and he was no longer so strange to everything in Nanjing, but his visit this time did not seem to have received special attention from Ning Chu, and like other envoys, the person who entertained him was only a deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not like last time, he was received by Song Enming, the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is a signal that makes Matsudaira Tsunayoshi vigilant, because if there are no other changes, Song Enming will at least come to see him, but until now, Matsudaira Tsunayoshi has not seen Ning Chu's important figures.

"Matsudaira-kun, all the way to Nanjing, did you find that Nanjing has changed more than you came before?"

Xue Guoyun said with a smile on his face, he was born in Fujian and had some dealings with Japanese maritime merchants, so he knew the character of these Japanese people after all.

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi bowed his head slightly, and said sincerely: "Lord Xue, the last time I came, it was in February, and now it has been more than half a year. As he said this, he took out Ning Chu's new-style gold, silver and copper coins from his sleeve, sighed and said, "These coins alone are not only better than those of Japan, but also much stronger than those of Westerners. ”

Seeing that Matsudaira Tsunayoshi was interested in talking about the currency that Ning Chu had just implemented, Xue Guoguan's heart moved, and he said with a smile: "Could it be that your envoy has also failed to study currency?" ”

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi let out a long sigh and shook his head lightly, "Unlike your country, the shogunate has now come to an extremely difficult road. Although Japan is relatively stable today, due to the improper coinage of the Genroku period, the currency was chaotic, prices soared, and the samurai who relied on the Yuroku became poorer and poorer, and even the shogunate's finances were in serious trouble. ”

Hearing Matsudaira Tsunayoshi say this, Xue Guoyun was not the slightest surprised, because according to the information currently held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although Japan is relatively peaceful on the surface, the crisis is already hidden under the surface of the water and may break out at any time.

Originally, all this would have erupted very early, but for Japan, the current reform of the enumeration has forced it to continue, but it has also brought a lot of side effects, and although the contradiction has been suppressed for the time being, sooner or later it will completely erupt.

If Ning Yu is here, then he will definitely point out that the reform of Xiangbao is essentially taking the road in the opposite direction, because the key to the current contradiction in Japan is not the peasants, but the small and medium-sized industrial and commercial owners and samurai in the cities, which reflects the conflict between feudal society and capitalism at a key node.

In a sense, the feudal lords of Japan maintained their finances by collecting rents in kind from the peasants, and the fruits of the development of the commodity economy, such as the surplus created by the development of commercial agriculture, could not be arbitrarily deprived of the fruits of mining, industry and other industries based on agriculture, which was actually very similar to the financial dilemma of the late Ming Dynasty - that is, the peasants' taxes were no longer able to support the empire, but the industrial and commercial industries were in a long-term low tax scale.

In the end, the Ming Dynasty did not solve this problem, and the current Qing court only delayed its explosion on this issue, but did not fundamentally solve it. Strictly speaking, only the present Ning Chu is on the right path, that is, to support industry and commerce and impose heavy taxes to reduce the burden on the peasants.

Therefore, under these circumstances, the shogunate's reform of the Tobo, in essence, was a political and economic reform based on "agrarianism" and the consolidation of feudal rule based on the small-scale peasant economy, which was simply an out-and-out reactionary path.

Historically, the Japanese shogunate, which had been running along this road, could no longer maintain the current small-scale peasant economic model after the Black Ship Incident, and the shogunate completely exploded, adding a lot of firewood to the Meiji Restoration.

Although Xue Guanyun understood the problem of Japan, he would not say it directly, but said in a low voice: "Matsudaira-kun's view is quite similar to that of His Majesty in my court, this is a big era, it is not enough to focus only on the country, we must look at the larger world." ”

Hearing that Xue Guoyun's words seemed to mean something, Matsudaira Tsunayoshi couldn't help but ask: "The Shogun sent me to Nanjing to seek a solution, and the Celestial Empire has gone ahead of everyone in this regard, and it is worth learning from the shogunate." ”

Xue Guoyun was calm and light on the surface, but he shook his head in his heart, this Tang Seng wants to ask for the true scriptures, and he has to walk 108,000 miles, and the current Japan wants to ascend to the sky in one step, and he really thinks too well......

However, since the bait has been thrown, Xue Guoyun will naturally further explain: "Matsudaira-kun, the current problem is not only in Japan, in fact, it is only through the regulation of internal affairs, there is no way to solve the current crisis in Japan, and there is no way to make the Tokugawa shogunate exist forever." ”

"What does Lord Xue mean? Return to the Celestial Empire's tributary trading system? ”

A flash of fire flashed in Matsudaira Tsunaki's eyes, this was exactly what he thought could save Japan, and if he could achieve this goal, I am afraid that the general would be very happy.

Xue Guoyun shook his head, "No, no, no, since Matsudaira-kun was denied by His Majesty the last time he came, how could it be easily changed now?" Tributary trade is not possible, but free trade on the principle of reciprocity is possible. ”

Free trade? Are you kidding?

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi almost jumped, it can be said that if Japan implements free trade, then the collapse of the shogunate will be tomorrow, no, tonight, those samurai lords will unite and send the Tokugawa family to heaven.

In fact, as early as the early Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu pursued peaceful trade diplomacy and actively developed overseas trade, but it did not last long before the Japanese shogunate had to issue the "Lockdown Decree" again, and from then on, Japan only engaged in limited trade with China and the Netherlands.

The origin of the Lockdown Decree is very complicated, first of all, in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, many Christian missionaries sailed to Japan and preached in Japan, which posed a serious threat to the rule of the Japanese shogunate, forcing the Edo Shogunate to promulgate the "Prohibition of Religion", so that the Shimabara Rebellion broke out in Kyushu, which further promoted the creation of the "Lockdown Order".

Secondly, there is a very important point, that is, the long-term foreign trade has led to the rapid outflow of gold and silver from Japan, which has seriously endangered the rule of the shogunate, so in order to control the outflow of gold and silver, the shogunate also had to issue a "national closure order".

Speaking of which, the monetary policy of the Japanese shogunate has always been the gold and silver standard, and related gold coins have been issued, but due to the long-term shortage of silver in Japan, it has not accumulated a large amount of silver reserves like China, which makes the gold-silver ratio in Japan seriously out of balance.

At present, Japan's gold-silver ratio is about 1:5 to 1:6, while China's current gold-silver ratio is about 1:12, which is not much different from the ratio of Western countries. Therefore, if the gold-silver ratio is not adjusted, Japan's foreign trade will continue to flow out of gold, and if there is a shortage of gold, the entire Japanese economy will collapse completely.

This is why Matsudaira Tsunayoshi was so surprised, he didn't even have to think about it, if free trade was implemented, I was afraid that all the Japanese would rise up in rebellion.

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi's face was a little gloomy, and he forced a smile: "Lord Xue is really joking, if our country is open to free trade, not only the shogunate will not agree, but the samurai of all Japan will not agree." ”

Seeing that Xue Guoyun had a hint of a smile on his face, Matsudaira Tsunayoshi regretted mentioning this topic a little, and he hurriedly said softly: "What His Majesty the Emperor said before, about the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma domain and the Ryukyu Kingdom, the general agreed to the idea of the Celestial Empire in principle, but there are also several requests. ”

"Your envoy, but it doesn't hurt to say it." Xue Guoyun picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of tea.

"First, if the Celestial Empire attacks the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma Domain, the shogun is willing to slow down and force the Shimazu clan to give up suzerainty over the Ryukyu Kingdom, but also ask the Celestial Empire to compensate and not continue the attack;"

"Second, after the independence of the Ryukyu Kingdom, I also asked the Celestial Empire to agree to Japan's participation in the tributary trade;"

"Third, they must not interfere in all the internal affairs of Japan, including the right to dispose of the Satsuma Domain, let alone occupy an inch of Japan's territory."

Although Matsudaira Tsunayoshi was already aware of the emperor's opposition to the tributary trade, this time he still put this article forward as a condition, as for the first and third articles, it was naturally to prevent Ning Chu from having any other ideas that he should not have, so he put forward the request.

Xue Guoyun smiled, but said softly: "These conditions will be forwarded by the official for your envoy, as for the result, you still need to wait a little longer." ”

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi immediately showed a grateful smile on his face, "Lord Xue has bothered, if you don't get disliked, you might as well go to the Qinhuai River flower boat tonight, and please appreciate your face." ”

"Hehe, this cruise boat is still exempt, this official doesn't want his name to appear in the account book of the Supervision Yuan the next day, and I'm afraid that it will be light to lose his official position at that time."

How could Xue Guoyun agree to the other party's request at this critical time, and it was too late to avoid suspicion.

After Xue Guoyun left the state guesthouse, Matsudaira Tsunayoshi looked in the east direction with some worry, it was the place where the envoys sent by the emperor lived, if Xue Guoyun went out and immediately turned around and went to the emperor's envoys, Matsudaira Tsunayoshi would not feel strange at all.

After all, there are many conditions that the shogunate does not have the confidence to agree, but the emperor has them, after all, in order to regain power, what can't be agreed? Even if he wants to sell the country, the emperor can sell it for a good price.