Edo was first ruled by the wealthy Edo clan, and since then, Ota Michi, a retainer of the Ogiya Uesugi clan, has become a strategic location in the Kanto region. Later, with the decline of the Ogiya Uesugi clan, the castle was taken over by the Hojo clan of Odawara Castle. In the 18th year of Tensho, after the Battle of Odawara in Hojo, Tokugawa Ieyasu entered the Kanto region and took Edo as his residence, and Edo Castle began to prosper. In the eighth year of Keicho, Tokugawa Ieyasu opened the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo. Since then, Edo Castle has grown greatly as the political and economic center of the country, and the expansion of the city was completed during the Tokugawa Iemitsu period.

As the largest city and political center in Japan, Edo was prosperous, and Edo Castle, which was opened by the Shogunate in the 8th year of Keicho and enjoyed peace for 66 years, attracted more and more people and gradually developed into the central city of the time. As Edo Castle grew, it gradually divided into two distinct districts, the first of which was the Downtown District, also known as Shitamachi, which was home to a large number of small merchants and craftsmen who were mainly engaged in water transportation on the Sumida River, the distribution of goods in Edo Port, and various commercial activities. Another area is the upper-class district known as "Yamanade", which includes the residential area of the daimyo and the residential area of Hashimoto, which is the political center of Edo Castle with its lush greenery and beautiful environment.

However, the apparent prosperity could not hide the internal troubles, and after the death of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, there was an attempted ronin riot, and the society was in turmoil, but the third shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna was assisted by his uncle Hoshina Masayuki and the elder Sakai Tadakatsu, the old Naka Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and Abe Tadaaki. Since then, he has been working to improve the structure of the shogunate, prohibiting the death of a martyr, and changing the military politics of his father, Tokugawa Iemitsu, to a civil rule.

However, due to the natural weakness of Iezuna, from the sixth year of Kanbun, he was often bedridden, resulting in the autocracy of the elder Sakai Tadakatsu, and the power of the shogunate gradually weakened. Tokugawa Ietsuna, who was the shogun, naturally knew this, but he couldn't do without the assistance of Sakai Tadakatsu.

"In a letter from the lord of the Matsumae Domain, he mentioned that the Ming people had driven out the Japanese from Ezo and brought Ezo under their rule, and asked the shogunate what should be done about it? At present, the Ming Kingdom is coming, will it be the prelude to the attack of Yuankou? ”

When the words of the old Nakanonaba Masanori fell, Tokugawa Iena, who was barely holding up his body and sitting there, immediately spoke.

"Ming Guo is coming? Yuan Kou ......"

The so-called "Yuan Kou" is the Meng Yuan who invaded Japan during the Meng Yuan period, and the Meng Yuan invaded Japan twice, but both of them were defeated by the fierce resistance of the Japanese army and bad weather factors. Nevertheless, it was one of the most dangerous foreign invasions in Japan's history, which almost led to the destruction of Japan.

That's why when Inaba Masanori mentions "Genko", Tokugawa Ietsuna is so nervous.

"Can you be sure that Ming Guo is here to commit it?"

Perhaps, the defeat of the Mongol Yuan twice made Japan have a certain sense of superiority over the mainland. But after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's expedition to Korea and the defeat of the Ming army, this inexplicable sense of superiority disappeared, and even developed a certain fear of the mainland.

Perhaps, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Kou, the Japanese were once saddened by the "Shenzhou Lu Shen", but it was limited to this, in the face of Zheng Chenggong and others' prayers, they have always resolutely refused, after all, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's lesson is there.

However, the situation on the mainland changed beyond their expectations, and the Ming Kingdom, which had seemed to have no chance of turning around, was once again revived, and became more powerful, and even the ships of the Ming Kingdom around Japan appeared more and more frequently.

However, none of this has anything to do with Japan, which has closed itself off.

But now, after the news of the "attack of the Ming Kingdom" spread from the Matsuzen Domain to Edo, Tokugawa and others, who were originally determined to "live in seclusion", were all shocked.

"Ming Kou" is not "Yuan Kou" can be compared, Toyotomi's elite of a hundred battles was easily defeated by the Ming people, all lost in Korea, if the Ming Kou attacked, how should Japan respond?

"According to the samurai who escaped from Hakodate, it seems that the Ming people who occupied Hakodate were not Ming officers and soldiers, but the minister thought that the lord must be on guard against Ming Guo, in case, this is a temptation by the Ming people, what should I do?"

"Why should the people of the Ming Kingdom be tempted? For the sake of attacking Japan? ”

As the elder of the shogunate, Sakai Tadashi asked rhetorically, which made Inaba Masanori become mute.

"Now, the Ming people have not completely wiped out the Qing people, how can they invade Japan? I think it's not so much a test of our strength, but rather a test of the Ming people, our attitude towards Ezo, my lord. ”

Sakai Tadakatsu turned his gaze to Tokugawa, and then said respectfully.

"Although Ezo has long nominally recognized that the Matsumae Domain has the right to dominate and trade with Ezo, my lord, Ezo is just a tasteless chicken rib to Japan, and it would be unwise to have a conflict with the Ming Kingdom for such a chicken rib land!"

"But are we going to sit back and watch the Ming Kingdom occupy Ezo? It's the land of Japan! ”

Inoha said with some excitement.

"It's not Japanese land, it's just the land of the Matsumae Domain, and there are even a few ronins fishing there, and the lord and the minister think that this Ezo land dispute can't listen to what the Matsumae Domain says, and if the relationship between the Matsumae Domain and the Ming Kingdom is rigid, then it will be extremely unfavorable to the lord."

In order to remind Tokugawa Ietsuna and others, Sakai Tadashi deliberately emphasized.

"Now, if we can't export 6 million to 8 million catties of copper to the Ming Kingdom every year, and we can't import raw silk, sugar, and other commodities from the Ming Kingdom, it will be difficult for the shogunate's finances to sustain."

In recent years, the financial situation of the shogunate has been extremely embarrassing, and it has to rely heavily on trade with the Ming Kingdom, and the export of copper to the Ming Dynasty is also a measure of Japan in order to avoid the outflow of silver, after all, the Ming merchant ships continue to go to Nagasaki to trade, perhaps bringing rich goods, but Japan does not have enough to attract the goods of the Ming merchants to exchange with each other, and has to settle in silver, and a large amount of silver flows into the Ming Kingdom with the Ming merchant ships in the trade, especially in recent years, after the Ming Kingdom fully opened the sea, the outflow of silver accelerated, For this reason, copper was used as a substitute for gold and silver in exchange for trade goods. Just last year, the shogunate made a decision to increase the amount of copper exported to the outside world by at least 9 million jin each year to solve the financial pressure on the shogunate.

"Besides, if a war with the Ming Kingdom is triggered because of Ezo, how will the military budget be borne by then! Don't forget, the lesson of Toyotomi Hideyoshi back then! ”

Sometimes, even as the shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, he needed to make concessions to Sakai Tadakatsu, even if he was unwilling, he had to make concessions, and now, Sakai's reminder made Tokugawa immediately think about how his great-grandfather captured the world back then, how he defeated Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and if Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not go on an expedition to the mainland, how could it lead to the loss of his elite, and finally let the Tokugawa family replace the Toyotomi family.

"However, my lord, if I can't do justice for the Matsumae Domain, I'm afraid it will arouse the dissatisfaction of the local daimyos."

Inaba Masanori's reminder made the Tokugawa family's brows tighten, on the one hand, the interests of the Tokugawa family, and on the other hand, the possible dissatisfaction of the local daimyō.

"It's just a place to turn into an outsider, lord, the minister thinks it'......"

Sakai Tadakatsu thought that he had just received the official document, and he spoke.

"Three days ago, Mitsuyuki Kuroda, the Nagasaki commissioner of the Fukuoka Domain, who took turns to guard Nagasaki, mentioned in a letter that it had been three years since the Lan ship had sailed into Nagasaki, and that the merchant ships that were now sailing into Nagasaki were Akeke. Therefore, he sent a letter asking if the lord could send his retainers and Fengshuo to the Ming Kingdom on the ships of the Ming Kingdom to collect the information he needed. ”

Originally, Sakai Tadashi was going to suppress Kuroda Mitsuyuki's report, after all, the "Lockdown Order" was an order from the first head of the family, and there was no need to ignore Kuroda Mitsuyuki's worries.

"Send an envoy to the Ming Kingdom!"

Tokugawa Ietsuna was surprised, and Inaba Masanori immediately said.

"My lord, the minister thinks that this matter must not be allowed, the "Closed Nation Order" is the shogunate has repeatedly reiterated, there is no exception to the law, how can it be a small loss, if a messenger is sent today, he will definitely have a local daimyo to ask for the reopening of the port and the rebuilding of the ship, at that time, I am afraid that the Shogunate will attack Japan again, and even cause the southwestern daimyo to sit on the ......."

Compared to Sakai, Inaba Masanori was bent on maintaining the interests of the shogunate, and not all the daimyo were in favor of the closure of the country, and the reason why the Japanese were strictly forbidden to go to sea, and even did not hesitate to take drastic measures, was not only to prohibit the introduction of Catholicism, but also to stop the tendency of the southwestern daimyo to use overseas trade to increase their power, and to consolidate the shogunate's dominance in the country.

"It's just a few messengers, but it's for a reason, my lord."

Compared with the cautiousness of Inaba Masanori, for fear of causing local dissatisfaction, Sakai Tadakatsu, who is used to being arbitrary, appears extremely confident.

"Even if the southwestern feudal clans question it, they can refute them with Ezo, this time the envoy is not for trade, nor for anything else, just to deal with the problem of Ezo, we can't sit and wait for the Ming envoy to come to the door, my lord, even if the Ming envoy comes to Japan, it is impossible to come to Edo, so there is no problem in sending a few envoys."

"Lord ......"

Without waiting for Inaba Masanori to speak, Tokugawa Ietsuna stopped him, and then said to Sakai Tadakatsu.

"Okay, since that's the case, let's send an envoy, besides, I also want to know what the Ming Kingdom looks like now, after all, for the Ming Kingdom all these years, it's just hearsay. Moreover, we should also congratulate them on their recovery. And so it was decided! The current Ming Kingdom ......"

The pale Tokugawa Ietsuna looked into the distance and muttered.

"What the hell does it look like......

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