Gonggong Wei was very surprised, he did not expect that it was these people in the Japanese Confucian community who proposed the abolition of the emperor.

However, after a little thought, it became clear that the Japanese Confucian scholars who advocated "integrating China and pro-China" were ordinary Japanese, and they could not talk about any reverence and loyalty to the emperor in Kyoto.

This is due to Japan-specific historical factors.

Although the shogunate founded by the samurai had always emphasized loyalty, this one was a shogun, not an emperor. The existence of the shogunate was also the greatest contempt for the authority of the emperor.

Not to mention that the current Japanese imperial family only has a small fiefdom, and because there is no money, the imperial family has to send people to sell calligraphy and paintings on the street to obtain a small income.

After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, it was even more financially in charge of the Kyoto imperial family, and it was also a direct intervention in court affairs, and Emperor Gomizuo was more of a puppet than an emperor.

The Japanese really regarded the emperor as a god-like being, and it took two or three hundred years to restore the shogunate after the overthrow.

Without the blessing of Shinto and ****, the emperor is naturally worthless, and it will not become an inviolable existence in the minds of Japanese readers.

As Gonggong Wei has always praised, Confucianism knows no borders, and the ideological consciousness of Confucianism is high.

As we all know, "Respect the Emperor" and "Paradise of the Emperor" have always been the propaganda slogans of the imperial army, but this propaganda slogan has been temporarily vague in an uncertain period.

Specifically, it means that different people have different understandings of this "emperor", for example, His Majesty the young emperor in Kyoto is very interested in these two propaganda slogans.

The secret line of the Kikuji in Kyoto conveyed to the base camp that the Kyoto side wanted to contact the emperor, but because Tokugawa Hidetada's control of Kyoto was relatively tight, the two sides could not officially meet and talk.

In addition, both the Kyoto side and the Imperial Army hoped that the formal talks would be held after the Battle of Kyoto.

It will be in the hands of those who will be in control of Kyoto to determine whether the talks can be carried out successfully and achieve results that are mutually satisfactory to both sides.

Based on various realities, Wei Gonggong has no intention of announcing the true meaning of the word "emperor" to the whole of Japan now, because the time is not yet ripe.

Therefore, the father-in-law approved the radical idea of abolishing the emperor and integrating the whole country into the Ming Dynasty and making the emperor of Japan the emperor of Japan, but put forward a "three-step" plan.

The first step of the so-called "three-step" plan was to capture Kyoto first and control Gomizuo in the hands of the Imperial Army, so that Gomizuo could use Gomizuo to influence some Japanese feudal states and completely deny the legal rationality of the existence of the shogunate.

At this stage, the Emperor and his army showed respect for the young Emperor and kept the Kyoto Imperial Court as much as possible.

The second step is to write to His Majesty the Ming Emperor after taking control of Kyoto, and canonize Hou Mizuo as the king of Japan, imitating the Korean example.

The third step is for the Imperial Army to be formally annexed to Japan when it is able to completely integrate with Japan militarily, culturally, and economically.

The first and second steps, known as the "Meiji period", were the period of actual rule over parts of Japan by the Ming Dynasty.

During this period, Gonggong Wei conservatively estimated that it would take five to eight years.

The third step is the "period of co-prosperity", also known as the "period of long-term governance", that is, the era of real East Asian co-prosperity.

During the Meiji period, in addition to the Chinese language teaching and the imperial examination system, the Imperial Army mainly implemented the control of the Kyoto Imperial Court and carried out major reforms of the Japanese political system and system.

In the plan, the "Protocol of Tomorrow" would be signed by Gonggong Wei himself and the young Gomizuo to determine the formal relationship between the Kyoto Imperial Court and the Ming Dynasty.

When this plan was introduced, it was opposed by some officers of the Guards Division, such as Ichiro Sanada, the commander of the first wing, and Li Yanzhao, the commander of the sixth wing.

Li Yanzhao submitted a manuscript entitled "The Fundamental Policy for Resolving the Japanese Question," holding that the Emperor's conquest of Japan should be comprehensive and thorough, leaving no hidden dangers.

Therefore, the Imperial Army should continue to increase its troops in Japan, march to Edo immediately after capturing Kyoto, and immediately march to the rest of the vassal states after taking control of these two political centers of Japan, so as to use the invincible bayonet of the Imperial Army as the emperor to completely solve the problem of the century-old Japanese trouble, and at the same time save the Japanese people who were deeply under the tyranny of the shogunate.

In the manuscript, Li Yanzhao strongly suggested that the headquarters should not recognize the Kyoto Imperial Court, and demanded that all conditions be used to achieve the beheading of the puppet emperor in the Battle of Kyoto.

The reason is that there are no two days and no two people.

In order to achieve this goal, some officers of the Guards Division had already begun to plan an attack on Kyoto from their base camp.

The base camp was strongly opposed to the radical officers' plan out of consideration for Japan as a whole, as well as the actual ability of the Imperial Army to project its own military forces.

"No expansion" is the general program of the base camp's current campaign against the Japanese conquest.

Chief of Staff Jiang Xifeng personally issued a document questioning the plan submitted by Li Yanzhao and demanded that the Guards Division rectify the thinking of its officers and implement the established operational plan of the base camp and the plan for the occupation of Japan.

Li Yanzhao's palindrome strongly stated that it would be absolutely difficult for the First Army to accept "the existence of the puppet regime in Kyoto."

Although Cao Wenyao, the commander of the Guards Division, was a tiger general, he was too benevolent and righteous in this part of the Imperial Command, and he seemed to be a bit of a mother-in-law, and he always wanted to be a good man, so in response to the chaotic opinions of the various divisions and regiments, Cao Wenyao was unable to make a decision and form a unified thought, so that the officers were able to quarrel during the meeting.

The lawsuit went to Grandpa Wei.

In order to further expound their views, Ichiro Sanada and Li Yanzhao jointly submitted the "Outline of the Plan for the Establishment of a New Japan," the core of which was to point out that we must not be satisfied with only establishing a pro-Ming regime, and that if we only establish a pro-Ming regime, we cannot act according to the intentions of the empire.

Gonggong Wei gave instructions on this outline: Originally, it was the long-term policy to make Japan a part of the territory of our empire. However, in view of the historical origins, the current rush to put it into practice may be met with material discussion and opposition from the Japanese people, and it may not be a wise move to increase the hardships of the Imperial Army's crusade and warfare.

Subsequently, Gonggong Wei ordered to reprimand Sanada Ichiro, Li Yanzhao and others, and the words were extremely harsh. He also instructed the Kiku organs led by Katsu Saburo to immediately carry out a "rebellion" against the Kyoto Imperial Court.

When there was no guarantee of a meeting between the two sides, the father-in-law instructed the Kiku-cho to ensure that Gomizuo, the Imperial Family, and the Kyoto Imperial Court could stay in Kyoto and not flee with Tokugawa Hidetada to Edo or the rest of the region.

In early January, after the departure of the secret observation group of Japanese Confucian scholars, Wei Gonggong proceeded from the entire battle situation, believing that the time was ripe for a strategic battle with the main force of the Shogunate Central Army of Tokugawa Hidetada, and ordered the base camp to formulate an operational policy of the First Army going north to attack Kyoto, the Ariki detachment attacking Ikeda and Mita on the first line, and the Gakubun detachment attacking Kusatsu.

It is known in history as the "Great Battle of Unification".