"Your Highness, in fact, Japan is the most progressive country in East Asia! Back in the days of Japan, your ambassador Shikura led a huge delegation to New Spain and Europe to meet with King Philip III and the Pope of Rome. To this day, some members of the Japanese Mission who accompanied Ambassador Shikura to Spain remain in Spain and wait for the new Japanese Mission. Because of the long wait, some of them have already married and had children in Spain, including the descendants of the ambassadors of Zhikura.

It is a pity that Japan has not been able to continue its open and progressive course, but has closed the door to communication with the world because of its hostility to Catholicism. It's completely unnecessary! Even the Ottoman Empire, which hated Catholicism the most, had friends in Western Europe. And your powerful neighbor, the Celestial Empire, also has a serious dispute with Rome over the issue of religious protection, but Jesuit missionaries can still go in and out of the court in Nanjing, and their Taixue, Jingxue, and Shanghai universities all have Jesuit missionaries, and faith in God will not be punished by death. Therefore, the Celestial Empire was able to absorb knowledge, technology, and experience from the West in recent years, and in a very short period of time, it has changed from a backward, ignorant, and declining country to a powerful country second to none in the world. And such progress should have occurred in the ...... of Japan"

In the Sendai mansion in Edo, the Spanish envoy Caballero was of course speaking to Date Tadamune in a tone full of regret and fluent Chinese.

The situation in Japan is now calm before the storm. Only a few of the core of the Tokugawa shogunate, such as Masayuki Hoshina and Tokugawa Mitsukuni, knew that a great chaos was inevitable. And the others, even Date Tadamune, the lord of the Sendai domain, who had a close relationship with the shogunate, did not feel that a great war was about to break out.

As for Caballero, who visited Japan, he did not know much about the situation in Japan, he was a China expert, not a Japan expert. Therefore, it is impossible for him to know why Japan, which at first glance seems to be full of martial spirits, whose population is comparable to that of France, whose precious metal resources are so abundant that it is known as the country of gold, and which is located on several large islands far from the East Asian continent, and surrounded by the ocean, cannot become a great power that can curb the expansion of the Celestial Empire to the other side of the Pacific Ocean?

In Caballero's view, Japan only needs to open its doors like the Ming Dynasty, introduce Western technology and experience, build a navy and a European-style army, and then be able to actively intervene in the affairs of the East Asian continent.

His words were translated into Japanese by Shikura Tokitada's son, Shikura Tokitada, who was in Japan. Date Tadamune's face was expressionless, and he did not seem to have the slightest interest in Caballero's depiction of the rise of Japan.

After a while, the Ming Emperor of the Sendai Domain spoke: "Your Excellency, the purpose of your visit to Japan is to hope that Japan will follow the example of the Ming Kingdom and open up in an all-round way?" ”

Shikura Tokitaka also translated the words of the clan lord into Chinese - he was a scholar of the Sendai clan and was proficient in Sinology and Lanxue, as well as Chinese and Dutch.

"Your Highness," Caballero said, "if full opening up is not possible for a while, then it should also be expanded, first of all, Westerners should be allowed to enjoy the same treatment as Ming people, and Westerners should be allowed to travel freely to and from the open ports of Japan like Ming people; Second, the number of open ports should be increased, and the ports of Osaka and Uraga should be added to Nagasaki as development ports, and Westerners should be allowed to move freely within the open ports, rather than being confined to a small area. Third, Japan should have its own independent diplomatic line, and it should not, and there is no need to follow the Ming Kingdom diplomatically! Especially in the war between the Ming and Spanish kingdoms that is about to break out, you should strictly observe neutrality so as not to set yourself on fire! ”

Date Tadamune was still like a wooden man, listening to Caballero's threatening words, and he didn't mean to be angry.

There was still a long silence, and then he said to Caballero in a calm tone without a little wave: "Your Excellency, it is possible to expand the opening up, after all, the Ming Kingdom has already taken the lead on the issue of opening up. As for the independent diplomatic line, this is indeed what Japan has pursued for hundreds of years, but we are not Europe here, we are too close to the Celestial Empire, too far from heaven!

When the Celestial Dynasty was strong, no one could stand on their own...... Neither can Japan! ”

Caballero frowned and was silent for a while before he said, "Does Your Highness mean that the shogunate can meet the requirements of the Kingdom of Spain on the issue of expanding the opening up?" ”

"That's ...... The shogunate is willing to open up widely! Date Tadamune nodded, "But the shogunate will still strictly restrict the spread of Catholicism!" ”

Caballero secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Japan expands its opening up, he can hire a certain number of ronins from Japan as mercenaries, 50,000 is impossible, but a few thousand people can still do it.

......

"Your Excellency, I don't think you know much about Japan's situation. Japan...... In fact, it is a concept of nothingness, a place name! In Japan, there is no Japanese army, no Japanese magistrates, and although there are Japanese officials, they don't care about anything. As for the emperor, hehe, the decree does not leave the Imperial Palace! Although the shogunate was able to command the feudal domains, it could not completely control the actions of the feudal domains. In particular, there were many powerful feudal domains in the southwestern part of Japan, which were strong enough to resist the shogunate's decrees. ”

"Your Excellency, you should understand that it is impossible for the Celestial Empire to conclude any treaty with the illusory Japan, and if it is concluded, it will be a piece of waste paper! The Celestial Empire can only make a treaty with the shogunate or the powerful feudal clan in the southwest, and it can only choose one of them, either the shogunate or the strong feudal domain! ”

At the same time, in the Mito mansion, Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Sakai Tadashi were explaining to Wei Zaode about the situation of Japan, which was a place name, a sovereign state...... There is a slight concept on the European side, and East Asia does not understand this at all, let alone not interfere in internal affairs or anything.

Therefore, in the eyes of Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Sakai Tadashi, there was no diplomacy between the Ming Kingdom and Japan at all, only diplomacy between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Celestial Empire!

Of course, in the eyes of Guangguo and Chungcheong, the Celestial Empire is not a sovereign and independent country, but only a court that commands the world!

And the concept of Tianxia can include Japan or not Japan...... For the Tokugawa shogunate, the key issue was how to maintain the feudal system headed by the Tokugawa shogunate.

So what the shogunate is now pursuing is not Japan and the Celestial Empire, but the shogunate and the Celestial Empire!

Wei Zaode pondered and asked, "Couldn't the Japanese emperor be demoted to the king of Japan?" Isn't that okay? ”

Sakai Tadakiyo smiled: "The public side demoted the emperor to the king, and he is also a rebellious minister and thief!" The prince himself became the king of Japan, and at most he was regarded as a rebel and thief...... If you are a rebel and a thief, why not be a king yourself? ”

Tokugawa Mitsukuni said, "Either you don't do it, or you don't leave anything to do it!" Otherwise, the Tokugawa family will be doomed...... Anyway, those are the strong feudal clans in Japan that oppose the Tokugawa family, no matter what the Tokugawa family does, they will fall and respect the emperor! Therefore, the Tokugawa family simply attacked first, wiped out them all, and then went on to eliminate the remnants of the powerful southwestern domain, abolish the emperor, and let the shogun ascend to the throne! ”

"That's it!" Wei Zaode hesitated for a moment, "So that no one will resist?" ”

"There will definitely be!" Tokugawa Hikari Kunido, "Just wipe it out!" Now the crux of the matter is whether the emperor of the Celestial Empire is capable of supporting the Tokugawa family! ”

Sakai Tadakiyo said: "If the Tokugawa family fails, then Japan will become an empire that cannot be tolerated by the Celestial Empire!" Then there will be no end to the struggle between the Celestial Empire and Japan! Japan has a population of 20 million and hundreds of thousands of samurai, and because it is far from the mainland, it is easy to get the support of Western countries! Although the Celestial Empire's force is strong, it may not be able to conquer Japan!

Therefore, supporting the Tokugawa shogunate to overwhelm the southwestern powers and establish the kingdom of Japan is the most beneficial for the Celestial Empire! ”