The envoy sent to Nanjing by the Tokugawa shogunate was Tokugawa Mitsukuni, the heir of the Mito Tokugawa family, one of the three imperial families, and this candidate was decided after a group of shogunate elders discussed it for half a month.

First of all, Guangguo is a Chinese expert, proficient in Sinology, familiar with Confucian classics, and has a great deal of research on the "Zi Treatise on Gewu", and is also proficient in arithmetic and French. Basically, he's a top student! Xueba Guangguo's ideal is to study in China and enter Taixue, the holy land of Xueba, in East Asia!

So he was very willing to go to China to have a look.

Secondly, Mito Hikaruki's identity is also appropriate. The heir of the Gosan family, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the core figure of the shogunate, and his rank was high enough. At the same time, he has not yet ascended the throne after all, and he has not been awarded a high-ranking official by the imperial court.

Sending him to visit China not only shows that Japan attaches great importance to the Ming Dynasty, but also does not underprice.

After all, the Ming Dynasty did not send anyone to congratulate Emperor Gosai on his accession to the throne, and the Ming Dynasty also unilaterally lowered Japan's "national character", reducing Japan from an emperor's country on an equal footing with the Ming Dynasty to an independent power...... This move seemed natural to China, but it was also secretly fun in the eyes of the shogunate, who did not want the Celestial Empire to pay attention to the emperor!

If the Celestial Empire holds the Emperor, then it will be a big trouble! Because those villains in Japan who conspire to fall the curtain generally play the banner of honoring the emperor! And the Celestial Empire is now like the leading big brother in East Asia, with a bunch of younger brothers, although this matter has nothing to do with Japan, but it can't stand that there is a group of thieves and immortals who will take the attitude of the Celestial Empire towards the emperor as a weather vane - see no, the Celestial Empire values the emperor, and your Tokugawa family actually bullies the emperor, this is an internationally recognized chaotic minister and thief!

Therefore, a group of shogunate elders were relatively satisfied with the Celestial Empire's policy of ignoring the emperor...... Of course, this kind of satisfaction can only be put in the heart, but not on the face! Otherwise, they will be said to be rebellious ministers and thieves!

Therefore, the shogunate could not send too important figures to the Ming to congratulate the victory in order to show their unhappiness.

In addition, Mito Hikari is notoriously smart! He is the smartest man in Japan, so he has a mission to send him to Daming, which is to explore the relationship between the Celestial Empire and the Satsuma Domain!

What is the relationship between the Celestial Empire and the Satsuma Domain? This can make the shogunate elders very nervous!

With the strength of the Celestial Empire's navy and army, it should be easy to drive the Satsuma Domain out of the Ryukyu Kingdom, right? Moreover, the Ryukyuan people have always been pro-Ming and the sun, so they should have begged the Celestial Empire to send troops a long time ago.

However, the Celestial Empire accepted the situation of co-ruling the Ryukyu Kingdom with the Satsuma Domain...... It's incredible!

How could the dignified Celestial Empire tolerate a vassal state that had submitted to it for more than 200 years to be half occupied by an internal vassal of Japan?

How is this possible? How can there be no conspiracy in this?

"Marquis of Xiamen, what does the Emperor of the Celestial Empire want to do with the Ryukyu Kingdom?"

In the outer city of Nanjing, in the Japanese embassy near the Ming Tomb, Tokugawa Mitsukuni immediately smelled of conspiracy when he heard the visiting Zheng Jiangong talk about the issue of formal condominium with the Ryukyus.

This is a conspiracy!

Zheng Jiangong smiled: "Of course, the two countries are jointly managed, and I am willing to make friends with Japan." Because I now have a common enemy with Japan, and our two countries are already allies, what is there to be reluctant about half of the Ryukyus? ”

Are you a fool when I am? As soon as Tokugawa Mitsukuni heard Zheng Jiangong's words, he immediately knew that something was wrong.

Half a Ryukyu ...... To whom? To the country of Japan? Sorry, Japan is just a place name!

This half of the Ryukyus can only be given to the Shimazu family! The Tokugawa shogunate simply couldn't reach it! And you still have half of it, isn't this equivalent to maintaining a window to communicate with the Shimazu family?

If the Shimazu family doesn't have half of the Ryukyus, or gets the whole of the Ryukyus, it will be difficult for you to collude with the Shimazu family, so you only keep half of the Ryukyu......

Tokugawa Mitsukuni was like a mirror in his heart, but he was still respectful on his face, and asked: "The common enemy that the Marquis of Xiamen said is ......."

"Spain, of course!" Zheng Jiangong said, "The Spanish wolf is ambitious, bent on promoting their Catholic religion all over the world, and wants to use Catholicism to disturb the hearts of our people in these countries of Buddhism and Taoism, so that we can cause chaos without a fight." If the Celestial Empire loses the war with Spain, will Japan still be able to withstand the invasion of the Spaniards?

You have 300 feudal lords in Japan, and all of them are loyal to the Shogun? How few ill-intentioned people wanted to take advantage of the support of Catholicism and Spain? ”

Tokugawa Mitsukuni said in his heart: Although there are 300 feudal domains in Japan, there is only one Satsuma feudal domain that the shogunate is really worried about! This Satsuma clan is not in collusion with Spain now, but is very close to your Ming Dynasty......

Guangguo looked at Zheng Jiangong and suddenly asked, "Xiamen Hou, I don't know if you have ever seen the Yuxi Duo Xiujia?" ”

"Ukita ......" Zheng Jiangong's face changed slightly, why haven't you seen it, that rice bucket old man who loves to eat! Alas, I have been getting sick lately, I have a thirst-quenching disease, and I am so thin that I can't live long. But before he died, he finally ate enough rice, and it was worth it!

"I haven't seen it, I haven't seen it!" Zheng Jiangong hurriedly shook his head, but how could the change in his expression escape Guangguo's observation?

Tokugawa Mitsukuni just looked at Zheng Jiangong and was silent.

Zheng Jiangong was very uncomfortable to see by him - this Tokugawa Mitsukoku's eyes were very sharp, and when he stared at people, he seemed to see through them, which made people very uncomfortable.

Therefore, Zheng Jiangong wanted to end the talks as soon as possible, so he said: "I also said to the Son of Heaven that as long as Japan is willing to support the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty can improve Japan's national character and recognize Japan as the same emperor as the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor can be called the emperor of Japan to foreign countries in the future!" ”

What the!

Tokugawa Mitsukuni was taken aback!

The Celestial Empire recognized the Emperor as the Emperor of Japan...... This will greatly enhance the prestige of the Emperor!

And now the emperor of the Celestial Empire has written a letter to Japan that refers to the Tokugawa shogun as a shogun, not as the king of Japan or the Maharaja of Japan. In history, the Yongle Emperor once canonized Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as the king of Japan, so in the diplomatic exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, the shogun was called the king. And the shoguns of the Tokugawa shogunate called themselves Maharaja in their diplomatic activities.

However, Zhu Cihong just called the head of the Tokugawa shogunate a Japanese general, although this is the most correct title, but the general is lower than the king, and the Japanese emperor is the monarch of the general!

Now that the Ming Dynasty wants to officially recognize the Japanese emperor, and call the head of the Tokugawa shogunate a shogun, it is equivalent to putting the emperor above the general!

And this is not only the opinion of the Great Tomorrow, but the view of the entire East Asian world...... And this view will definitely affect the powerful daimyo and ronin in Japan!

Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who was almost sure that Zhu Cihong was going to stir up the domestic situation in Japan, remained silent and said to Zheng Jiangong: "Xiamen Hou, the lower officials understand...... The lower official will accompany the envoy of the Marquis of Wei and arrange for him to meet with His Excellency the General and His Majesty the Emperor. However, before Xiaguan left Nanjing, he hoped to meet the Son of Heaven again. ”

"Okay, Benjue must try to make it!"

......

When Tokugawa Mitsukuni saw Zhu Cihong again, the location had already shifted to the racecourse of the old mountain palace. Emperor Zhu did not formally receive him, but invited him to go to the horse farm to ride a large ocean horse together.

While riding a horse, the two talk about the future of tomorrow's friendly relationship.

Emperor Zhu had heard of the reputation of this Japanese scholar in his previous life, so when he heard that the scholar Guangguo was visiting, he summoned him many times, and the two were already more familiar, so now they are more casual when they talk.

"Guangguo, I heard that the current shogun is a bit stupid, and he is called a stupid prince, but is there such a thing?"

Guangguo frowned slightly: "Your Majesty, the public side is not stupid, but wise and foolish!" ”

Zhu Cihong shook his head: "The king of a country must be smart!" Because governing a country is a very difficult matter, it is necessary to face various internal and external problems, which must be answered correctly and carefully. The internal and external situation that your country is facing today is extremely complicated, and we must not make mistakes! Do you understand? If the public is stupid, you who make decisions for him must be smarter! ”