A light rain adds a lot of life to Nagoya in spring, and at the same time, Komaki Castle, a building built on a hill on the northern outskirts of Nagoya, highlights the vicissitudes of life.

It was noon, in the underground secret room of Komaki Castle, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was one of the five old writers under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was meditating cross-legged, meditating and meditating.

Since his miraculous achievements in the Battle of Odawara of the Hojo clan after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's conquest, Tokugawa Ieyasu gradually gained the trust of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and his official position has risen step by step, and he is now one of the five old pen heads below one person and above ten thousand.

Outside the stone door of the secret room, there were three unique pecking sounds. Tokugawa Ieyasu slowly opened his eyes, raised his hand and gently pressed the button on the desk in front of him.

The stone door slowly opened.

A strong ray of light shone in from outside the stone gate. In the bright light, several black shadows deftly flashed in.

"Master, subordinates are incompetent. The three assassins sent were killed by a Koga ninja who was halfway through. When the shadows came to Tokugawa Ieyasu, they knelt on one leg and bowed to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the first of them reported in a low voice.

"What about the Ming Dynasty and the envoys?" Tokugawa Ieyasu was not interested in the lives and deaths of the three Assassins.

"Unscathed."

“……”

"Master, it's all subordinates who are incompetent. I beg my master to punish the sin! ”

"Forget it, there is no merit, there is hard work. Come, each of you drink a glass of sake and suppress the shock. ”

"Thank you, master!" The shadows stood up, stepped forward, picked up several blue and white porcelain wine glasses prepared by Tokugawa Ieyasu in advance, and drank the wine in the glasses.

"Don't blame me for being ruthless, it's just that it's not trivial. Whether the assassination is successful or not, you all have to die. ”

"The host...... You ......" The black shadows who drank the wine covered their abdomen with their hands and fell to the ground struggling in pain.

"Go with confidence. When I replace Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the future, all your family members will be knighted. ”

The black shadows vomited blood from their mouths and died of exhaustion.

Tokugawa Ieyasu glanced indifferently at the dead body lying on the ground, and pressed the button on the desk again. A circular hole leaked out of the east wall of the chamber. More than a dozen huge Dongying hounds barked wildly and burst out of the hole.

Tokugawa Ieyasu made a gesture to the trained hound. More than a dozen hounds immediately rushed to the corpse, bit the corpse, and dragged the corpse into the hole.

Tokugawa Ieyasu activated the button again and sealed the hole.

In the gloomy secret room, two cold and fierce lights shot out from Tokugawa Ieyasu's eyes.

A few days later. Shen Weijing, Konishi Yukicho and his entourage arrived in Nagoya.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was ordered by Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi to lead the five elders of the court to greet him outside the city gate.

In the lively welcome ceremony, Shen Weijing, under the introduction of President Konishi, shook hands with Tokugawa Ieyasu, who came forward.

The clever Shen Weijing found that although the hard-bodied old man standing opposite him was not lacking in polite words and his expression was full of smiles, but from behind his eyes, there was a kind of indifference that was not easy to find, this coldness made Shen Weijing shudder, and he even felt that this kind of gaze contained not only coldness, but also a vague murderous aura.

At this time, it was already approaching evening, and accompanied by Tokugawa Ieyasu's arrangement, Shen Weijing, Xu Yiyi, and Xie Yongzi had dinner at the State Guest House and were arranged to stay and rest at the Hamasaki Pavilion in Nagoya, which was specially used to entertain VIPs.

Due to the experience of the attack on Tsushima Island, Shen Weijing did not dare to go out to look for flowers and willows again, so he simply washed up and fell asleep on the bed.

Around the Hamasaki Pavilion, the Japanese people set up heavy guards to prevent a similar assassination on Tsushima Island from happening again.

That night, Konishi Yukicho secretly met with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He first presented Toyotomi Hideyoshi with the sword that he had obtained in Korea, and then sent a congratulatory gift that he had carefully prepared to celebrate Toyotomi Hideyoshi's noble son.

After a congratulatory message, Konishi reported to Toyotomi Hideyoshi about the assassination of the Tsushima envoy.

"Recently, there have been some local daimyo who are secretly trying to move. The domestic situation can be said to be an undercurrent. I didn't expect someone to do something about the Ming Dynasty and the envoys. It can be seen from this incident that some people do not want us to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty. After listening to Governor Konishi's report, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's face was solemn.

"Obviously, sending assassins to assassinate the Ming envoys must be in the hope that we will continue to fight with the Ming so that we can take advantage of the fisherman." Konishi Yukicho analyzed.

"Not bad. Their purpose is obvious. ”

"This time, the Ming envoy hopes that we can release the two Korean princes first, I don't know if Lord Taige ......"

"I already know their terms and conditions. It's not much of a problem to put back the two princes. Let's withdraw our troops. ”

"Taiko-sama, ...... you"

"The reason why I agreed to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty at the beginning was that I originally wanted to use the peace negotiation as a delaying tactic, but now it seems that we have been at war with the Ming Dynasty for nearly a year. From the analysis of the battle situation, it is not at all clear that we are fully sure of victory. Coupled with the recent instability in the country, my wife has just given birth to a young son for me. I still want to be steady. Isn't there a saying that if you want to be fast, you can't reach it. ”

"Then this time the envoy came to negotiate peace, we ......"

"Talk or talk. I am ready to accede to their request for the release of the two Korean princes. As for the request that we withdraw our troops and return to China, we cannot easily agree. I want them to meet our conditions before they consider withdrawing our troops. ”

"Are the four conditions we put on them?"

"No, this time, I changed to seven conditions: 1. Da Ming and we intermarried. Emperor Houyangcheng married a princess of the Ming Dynasty as the empress; 2. Trade between the two countries; 3. Never rebel. North Korea must swear never to betray the Japanese state; Fourth, the eternal oath is good. The Ming Dynasty and the Wa State sent military attaches to each other, formed an alliance and swore an oath to be reconciled forever; Fifth, cede four ways. Joseon wanted to cede the four southern provinces (Gyeongsang-do, Gangwon-do, Jeolla-do, Chungcheong-do) to the Wa state; 6. Korea wants to send a prince to the Wa Kingdom as a hostage; 7. The two princes of the Wa Kingdom, Linhaejun and Shunhejun, were exchanged for Korea. ”

"What if the Ming and North Korea disagree with our demands?"

"To tell you the truth, if they had agreed to these demands, I would have given up my army, and there would never have been more war in this life. Ay! I'm old. Hideyori (Toyotomi Hideyoshi named his newborn son Toyotomi Hideyori) needed a stable environment to grow up.

"You have also seen the current domestic environment, and there are many unstable factors. I don't want him to get hurt in any way. However, if they do not agree to our terms, then there will be only swords to meet.

"However, the matter of peace should be delayed rather than rushed. I would like to make full use of the buffer period of this peace negotiation to settle domestic affairs first. When we are fully prepared, it is not impossible to consider fighting the Ming Dynasty. ”

"My subordinates understood."

"Go ahead, and prepare for tomorrow's meeting with the envoy."

"Yes. The subordinates retired. ”

At three o'clock the next morning, Toyotomi Hideyoshi received the Ming envoys in the Daigoku Hall.

Along the way from the Hamasakikan to the Daigokuden, thousands of Japanese guards were heavily armed and on guard.

Shen Weijing, accompanied by Governor Konishi, together with Xu Yiyi and Xie Yongzi, climbed the high steps in front of the gate of the Great Pole Hall and came to a platform.

After a while, the vermilion lacquer gate of the main hall slowly opened, and ten guards in golden armor stood on both sides of the gate with swords on their waists.

"Taiko-sama has arrived!" One of the Golden Armor Guards shouted.

Shen Weijing held the gift prepared for Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his hand and looked up at the voice. I saw a short, skinny old man wearing a black five-striped feather weaving robe, walking out of the temple gate with steady steps.

"See Taiko-sama!" All the Japanese people standing on the platform immediately fell to their knees and bowed.

Shen Weijing was infected by this solemn and solemn atmosphere, and even wanted to kneel down with the Japanese people, but was stopped by Xu Yiyi and Xie Yongzi beside him.

"Hey, hey, I...... I didn't mean anything else, I just wanted to dust off my trouser legs. Realizing that he was almost rude, Shen Weijing said with a smile to the two companions.

"Get up." Toyotomi Hideyoshi raised his hand at the kneeling man.

"Lord Xie Taige!" The people rose from the ground.

"Lord Taige, these three are the envoys of the Ming Dynasty. This is General Shen Weijing, the envoy of the Council and the Minister, and these two are Mr. Xu Yiyi and Mr. Xie Yongzi. "Konishi Yukicho introduced the three envoys to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi raised his eyelids and quickly swept them over the three envoys.

Shen Weijing shivered, and in an instant, he read from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's gaze that he was keen, profound, sharp, cold, and sharp.

"Meet Taiko-sama!" Shen Weijing subconsciously bowed and clasped his fists in salute. Xu Yiyi and Xie Yongzi also greeted Toyotomi Hideyoshi together with Shen Weijing.

"The three envoys came from afar, and the journey was hard. Please take a seat inside. Toyotomi Hideyoshi said lightly.

"Lord Taiko, when I set off from Busan, I heard that Lord Taiko had just been pleased with your son, and I specially prepared a gift. I hope you smile. Shen Weijing took a step forward and prepared to give the gift to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Unexpectedly, the two gold-armored guards beside Toyotomi Hideyoshi immediately rushed forward and stopped Shen Weijing.

Shen Weijing was blocked, and he didn't know what to do for a while, so he had to stand in place awkwardly.

"Don't be unreasonable to the envoys, and don't retreat." Toyotomi Hideyoshi said to the two guards.

The two guards stepped aside.

"Lord Taige, I have prepared a unicorn jade pendant for your son, which is carefully carved from our Daming and Tianzi jade. This jade pendant is worn on the body of the noble son, which can ward off evil spirits and bless him with health and safety throughout his life.

"At the same time, in our Ming Dynasty, the unicorn is not only an auspicious beast, but also indicates that the person who wears it will be outstanding and become a dragon and phoenix among people." Shen Weijing said as he presented a beautiful sandalwood box containing jade pendants.

Shen Weijing's words can be said to have touched Toyotomi Hideyoshi's heart, he asked the guard to take the box, and said happily: "Then I'm welcome." General Shen went to the ocean, shouldered the heavy responsibility of the country, and thought about such trivial things as the birth of a child. It can be seen that he is a person with a heart. ”

"Lord Taige is happy to have a noble son, this is a major event in the world. How dare Shen ignore it. To be able to take this opportunity to please Lord Taige for a glass of wine, for me, it is a blessing for three lives! ”

"Good, good, well said. It is worthy of being a great Ming discussion and a righteous envoy, with sharp teeth and decent words. Hurry up inside please. ”

"Lord Taiko, please first." Shen Weijing stepped forward affectionately to support Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and walked towards the Great Pole Hall together.