However, what prompted Date Masamune to think more was not the strength of the Australians in Zhikura's mouth, after all, it was an uncontrollable external force, no matter how strong others were, they couldn't do it, and in the end, they still had to rely on their own strength to speak, and the 620,000 stone fiefdom of the Sendai Domain was not obtained by just fantasy, and it was not so stupid to find this mirror-like thought to be able to get to his position.

What surprised him was the unique vision of the Australian patriarch called Ping Qiusheng in Zhicang's mouth and his ability to connect thousands of threads of information for his own use, with Date Masamune's ingenuity, many things can be understood at a point, but this water mill himself never thought that it would take an outsider to mention it.

Referring to the population trade of Shikoku, Shiikura proposed a plan to ask for a peace and a holy one, and asked Masamune to return to Edo to meet Kato Yoshiaki, the lord of the Iyo Matsuyama domain.

In June of this year, the famous general Fukushima Masanori was confiscated by the shogunate of 500,000 stone fiefdoms of Aki and Bigo because he was good at repairing Hiroshima Castle Ninomaru and Sannomaru, and reduced the seal to the Takaino Domain of Shinano Kawanakajima, and the stone was reduced to 45,000 stone that was almost humiliating.

Battle of Sekigahara Fukushima Masanori chose to join the Eastern Army, not only served as the vanguard of the Tokugawa Army's return to and made great contributions with Ieyasu's son-in-law Ikeda Terumasa in the outpost battle of Gifu Castle, but also defeated the Ukita Hide's family in the Battle of Sekigahara, and was awarded Hiroshima 490,000 koku afterwards.

In fact, the reason for this politically advanced battle lies with the Toyotomi family itself, and Tokugawa Ieyasu claims to be fighting on behalf of the Toyotomi family. The traitorous minister's Ishida Mitsunari, and the heir of the Toyotomi clan in Osaka at that time did not make a clear statement because the Owari arbitrary faction of the Hideyoshi Masamu Kitamasa line stood for Ieyasu, because everyone in the world felt that the Sekigahara battle was just a civil war between the Toyotomi family and the martial arts faction, and it was not until the great victory and defeat had been divided that the Tokugawa family began to discuss the merits and deeds of many people gradually saw the essence of this war that determined the belonging of the world, and then Tokugawa Ieyasu took office as the general of the expedition, which made those who thought that they were on the side of the Toyotomi family Qingjun 'loyal ministers' wake up like a dream.

After more than ten years of precipitation, Fukushima Masanori and other Toyotomi family descendants have long seen the ambitions of the Tokugawa family, until the time came to Osaka in the twentieth year of Keichō, this time many former ministers of the Toyotomi family chose to stand on the opposite side of the Tokugawa family openly and secretly, and although Fukushima Masanori himself did not directly participate in the Osaka winter and summer battles, he also acquiesced in the Toyotomi family's acceptance of the military rations stored in Osaka by the Hiroshima Domain.

In fact, Fukushima Masanori did report to Edo in advance about the restoration of the damaged Hiroshima Castle, but the shogunate turned around and denied him afterwards, and at this time, with the strength of his family, he was no match for the Tokugawa family, so he could only be slaughtered.

In the process of moving the seal, the shogunate deliberately asked Kato Yoshiaki to lead the army to monitor along the way in order to prevent accidents, and Ping Qiu Sheng paved the way for the Date family's words.

Yoshiaki Kato participated in the raids of Gifu Castle and Ogaki Castle with the Fukushima Masanori in the Sentinel Battle of Sekigahara, and later participated in the battle against Ishida's three main forces in the joint battle, and after the war, he was awarded 200,000 koku from the Iyo Matsuyama Domain. He and Fukushima Masanori are both famous in the Tensho period of the world's seven cheap mountain guns (note: because of the name of the seven Toyotomi samurai who followed Hideyoshi in the battle with Shibata Katsuka's Shibata family), they belong to the Toyotomi line of siblings, and Fukushima Masanori is a childhood partner who grew up together in the Toyotomi family since he was a teenager.

It's just that Kato Yoshiaki is much more serious than Fukushima Masanori, not only taking the initiative to be a hostage in Edo all the year round, but also being cautious about the shogunate everywhere without making the slightest mistake, which did not fulfill the wishes of some people, but after this incident, he will inevitably have some fear in his heart, which is human nature. According to the idea of Ping Qiusheng, Date Masamune doesn't need to say it, as long as he mentions it a little after meeting, he can leave a seed in the other party's heart, anyway, it is Kato Akinari who is now in charge of the clan in the domain, and what he wants is just this one who doesn't talk much, with Kato Yoshiaki's usual behavior and his sensitive identity, as long as Date Masamune personally comes forward to believe that he will only choose to pretend to be dead in the affairs of Iyo Country.

This is exactly the layout of the four countries that Heiqiu Seito and Date Masamune said, and the four places are all foreign daimyos, among which the Iyo Province domain has the most, including the Uwajima Domain, the Ôsu Domain, the Imabari Domain, and the Matsuyama Domain, of which the Ossu Domain and the Imabari Domain are both Fujido Takatora fiefdoms, and after Takatora transferred to the Ise Kunizu Domain, the shogunate retained the position of the lord of Imabari Castle and the 20,000-stone fiefdom of his adopted son Takayoshi. Less than two years after the lord of the Ozu Domain, Yasumada, Kato Yasumada, joined the Ministry, and Ishitaka was only 60,000 koku, and the foundation of the two domains was not stable, and basically affecting the two domains of Uwajima and Matsuyama was equivalent to affecting the entire Iyo Province, and the human trade of the exiled prisoners was expected.

As for the other feudal domains on Shikoku Island, the lord of Sanuki's Takamatsu Domain is the third generation of Ikoma Masatoshi, and although he has Fujido Takatora as his grandfather, he has always been frail and sickly, and the feudal kingdom of 170,000 koku looks precarious.

Connected with the same illness of the Takamatsu Domain, there is also the Tokushima Domain, the lord of the domain, Wasuka Zhizhen, is rumored to have been bedridden, and it doesn't look like he will survive next year, and he doesn't know how long his father's grace since the family will last. In addition, there is only the Tosa Domain, the first strongest domain of Shikoku, left, and the name of the second feudal lord Yamauchi Tadayoshi is given by the shogun Hidetada, and there is no doubt about his loyalty or strength, but it can hardly affect the other three countries across the Shikoku Mountains.

Among them, Ping Qiusheng deliberately concealed one thing, although the population of Japan is important, but there is also an alternative method for mainland immigrants, but the more important copper material acquisition He actually wants to fall in Shikoku. After all, the shogunate's calculations would never allow anyone to monopolize the export of copper ore, and there was a large demand for coinage in Japan, so the current second-generation shogun did not look like a foreign person who would fake the financial lifeline to foreign countries, so it was the best policy for the Senate to be as self-sufficient as possible in the import of copper.

However, New Spain is far away from water, and there are still problems such as transportation capacity and hostility to deal with, and the final choice is that Japan is the most stable and reliable, and the existing copper mines in China and Kyushu are all in the mind, and many of them are still under the direct jurisdiction of the Shogunate, so the best way is to cooperate with local merchants to find a large mine in Japan that has not yet been discovered.

Among the four major copper mountains in Japan, the Ashio Copper Mountain has been mined for nearly five years, and it is the Shogunate's Heavenly Domain, and it is naturally impossible to make up its mind under the nose of Nikko Toshonomiya. The Akasawa Copper Mountain, where the Hitachi Copper Mine is located, is in the territory of the Mito Domain of the Mito Clan, and it is also no play. The only options left for him are the two mines of Besko and Kosaka, Kosaka was a wild place at this time, already close to Ezo, and it was an associated copper mine dominated by gold and silver, and it could also consider cooperating with the Date family, but not now.

As a result, only Besko Copper Mountain, located in the northern part of the Shikoku Mountain Range, is the most suitable, and the copper veins there have not yet been discovered. This place is between Iyo and Sanuki, but Sanuki is blocked by the Sanuki Mountains, and Iyo is only connected by a narrow passage between the Shimashi Mountains and the Takasho Mountains, which naturally forms a closed impact on the seaside plain, and there is only a small fishing village at the mouth of the Shiri Arakawa, where copper mining can reach the port directly by water, and this is provided that the Iyo side has some support from the vassal state, which is also the interest of Hei Qiusheng to promote the secret integration of the Iyo country, and now he will not give Date Masamune the truth.

…………

For the first time, a feudal priest returned from Europe, and it was not the way of the second shogun to go to Fushimi Castle as arranged by the shogunate after meeting with Date Masamune.

Standing in front of the Otemon Gate of Fushimi Castle and looking at the tall castle tower in the distance behind the gate, Tsunecho Shikura felt a lot of emotion, recalling that when he fought in Korea, all the military orders related to the front line came from here, and the words of a high-ranking person could decide the life and death of a soldier on the front line, which was indeed a wonderful feeling.

The wooden bell rang, and after several searches and a long curved wheel between the Ninomaru Gate and the Omoto Gate, Shikura finally reached the end of the trip, Matsumaru Nagaya, where the hot summer shogun always liked to receive his ministers.

At this moment, the pillar of the samurai family was sitting upright in his place, his face was as kind as the outside world said, it was hard to imagine that this middle-aged man who had been considered a little unsuccessful by the previous great emperor would be so cruel to Chezhi Dan.

And next to Tokugawa Hidetada, there were two old men who served separately, according to the advance mention of the ceremonial officer, he knew that one of the samurai should be the general's banner to pursue Okubo Tadashi, and his three deceased brothers were all old ministers of the Tokugawa family, who were trusted by the shogunate, and the old man's makeup was majestic, the shoulder ironing board was straight, and the five pleats representing the five Lun on the dark horse hakama were clearly recognizable, which made people dare not despise it at a glance. The other, who is older, is dressed in a red monk's robe and covered with a yellow and black robe, it seems that this is the famous Yixin Chongling, who planned the Fangguang Temple Zhongming Incident with Lin Luoshan back then, and used the far-fetched reason of almost going out without a hat to find a 'black-clothed prime minister' for the Tokugawa family to find a reason for war against Osaka.

The shogunate has always been frugal in its official duties, but today the shogun made an exception to prepare some confectionery tea for Zhikura, and it seems that he also attached great importance to this meeting.

On the way to meet the shogun, Tsunecho Zhikura repeatedly pondered Date Masamune's explanation, and the lord naturally understood the interests of the Sendai domain, and at the same time was very clear about the various scruples of the shogunate, so he specifically warned to be reserved about the affairs of the Australians, but the situation in Spain and Europe could not be fully understood, especially their colonial expansion in the Americas.

Zhikura himself naturally thought so, he had been surprised by the unfathomable depths of the Hei Qiu Sheng, and the other party knew so much about the recent situation of the Date family, and the plan to buy the exiled population even calculated the transfer of the newly moved Date family and Fukushima Masanori to Shikoku.

Speaking of which, he has a faint feeling lately, every step after returning to his homeland seems to be under the arrangement of the Australians, and these are all based on their full grasp of intelligence, I really don't know where they got this information.

Take this lobbying as an example, when he first arrived in Shikura, he did not rush to Fushimi first, but followed the advice of Hei Yusheng to go to Kodaiji Temple in Higashiyama, Kyoto to meet with Kodai-in, his original intention was to save dozens of Kishitan, who were about to be executed by the shogunate, but at that time, Zhikura did not even dare to mention his own beliefs, and the Date family would not set fire to the church at this time, so it was also a little unexpected for this strategy said by Elder Taira.

Takadai-in was the main residence of the late Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and unlike Yododen, who was born in Owari, Asano Ninko from the beginning sided with the Tokugawa family with her descendants from the same country. Thanks to the status of the Hokumasasho, Tokugawa Ieyasu was able to have the righteous status to send troops in the Battle of Sekigahara, so even after the complete destruction of the Toyotomi family in the Battle of Osaka, the shogunate still treated the former Taiko's main office with great courtesy for political purposes.

The first thing Hei Qiusheng set for Zhicang was to start with the former 'First Lady' to launch a public opinion offensive against the shogunate, after all, as a member of the Buddhist Sect, it was not much taboo for Hei Qiusheng to say a few good words for Kishidan, and even the link between them was prepared for him.

It turned out that there was also a Daimyo who was exiled to Manila with Takayama Youjin, and there was a Naito Ruan, who was the nephew of the famous general Matsunaga Hide, and although he was courteous to local officials and Japanese expatriates in Manila after his exile, his health was not as good as before because of old age and illness. It's just that this one also has a sister who was also exiled to Luzon with him, this sister's Christian name is Naito Julia, and she is still an enthusiastic missionary in Manila, and she formed the Society of St. Micael with thirteen women Chechi Tan, and more importantly, this woman is a close friend of Takadaiin and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's adopted daughter Shushoin, whose real name is Hashiba Hao, is the wife of the exiled Ukita Hideya, but she also has a double identity as the fourth daughter of the Maeda Toshiya family, and her mother is Yoshishunin Atsu.

More than ten years ago, it was the Naito clan who was a guest in the Maeda family through his sister's lobbying for the fourth lady of the Maeda family to be baptized in Kanazawa Castle. It is almost impossible for a man whose husband and two sons were exiled to say that she had no grudge against the shogunate, so it is only natural that she should be moved to say a few words to her adoptive mother, Kodaiin, on such a matter that is almost risky.

As for the attitude of Takadaiin herself, is it difficult for her to be grateful for the preferential treatment given to the shogunate who single-handedly buried her husband's family? At least this old woman who is not politically confused can still see the political logic behind these treatments clearly, and it seems reasonable to do so.

If Takadai-in had made a statement to the shogunate, it would not have been too abrupt for the Date family to come forward and express their intention to accept exiled prisoners, and he couldn't help but sigh at the thought of this.

[Note 1: Many domestic documents refer to Asano Nene as the real name of Kitamasa, which is inferred from the kana ねね, but the names of Toyotomi Hideyoshi written in Chinese in the Toyotomi family book are all 'Ning' or 'Ningzi', so the original documents are used here.]

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