In the palace of Edo Castle Honmaru, Tokugawa Iemitsu sat on the main seat dejectedly, his face cloudy. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

On both sides of the palace in front of him, sitting cross-legged were the shogunate's "elder" Doi Toshikatsu, five "elders", hundreds of daimyo who were close to the feudal domain, the daimyo of the pedigree, and several daimyo who were very loyal to the shogunate.

"Elder" Toshikatsu Doi was released by Tokugawa Iemitsu.

In fact, the Tokugawa family was reluctant to release Doi Toshikatsu in a hundred ways, and Doi Toshikatsu predicted that the battle would be unfavorable to the shogunate before the war, which can be described as an insight into the opportunity. Today, among the officials of the shogunate, Doi Toshikatsu has a high prestige, and the officials regard Doi Toshikatsu as a rare and good minister.

And Tokugawa Iemitsu, who ordered Doi Toshikatsu to be imprisoned, was naturally regarded as a faint king. Releasing Toshikatsu Doi is simply Tokugawa Iemitsu slapping himself in the mouth.

However, the five elders and dozens of daimyo who were close to the clan jointly petitioned for the restoration of Doi Toshikatsu's official position, and if Tokugawa Iemitsu did not agree, he was afraid that he would be deposed from his position as a shogun by these people.

Now the shogunate army under the command of Tokugawa Iemitsu has been defeated in Osaka, and its prestige has fallen to its lowest point. It is very likely that the generals of the Tokugawa family will depose the Tokugawa family and welcome the other male heirs of the Tokugawa family to power. So at the last moment, Tokugawa Iemitsu compromised, released Doi Toshikatsu, and restored the elder to his official position.

Now Doi Toshikatsu is sitting in the palace, presiding over the meeting as the elder, discussing whether to accept Li Zhi's peace talks.

Li Zhi's conditions for peace talks were harsh. The shogunate was asked to seal the four feudal towns that supported Li Zhi: the Chikugo Province with 260,000 koku (Keicho time) to the Nabeshima family, the Awa Province with 180,000 koku to the Chomune Ibe family, the Yasui and Iwami provinces with a total of 300,000 koku to the Mori family, and the Higo Province with 340,000 koku to the Shimazu family.

If this is divided, there will be four powerful Li Zhi princes in the westernmost part of Japan, and the western part of Japan will no longer obey the orders of the Tokugawa family.

At the same time, Li Zhi asked the shogunate to open the five cities of Nagasaki, Hirado, Nagoya, Edo, and Sendai as free trade ports.

Li Zhi also wanted to directly occupy Osaka Castle as a permanent "concession", and the "rent" provided by Li Zhi was only 100 taels per year.

Clear-eyed people can see at a glance that the arrangement of this concession only dilutes the perception that the Japanese were invaded by the Ming Dynasty. In fact, Li Zhi wanted to bite a colony in Japan.

Li Zhi even demanded that the shogunate pay 10 million taels of silver for a period of three months.

Ten million taels was a very large number, and it was not something that the Tokugawa shogunate could get at once.

There were only 16 million people in Japan as a whole, and the population under the direct jurisdiction of the Tokugawa family was only about 3 million. Asking the Tokugawa family to come up with 10 million taels in compensation is equivalent to asking each farmer of the Tokugawa family to pay three taels of silver. To raise the money, the Tokugawa family had to borrow money from merchants throughout Japan and then reduce their financial expenditures over the next decade.

In that case, I don't know how many samurai will have to be eliminated and their suffrage will be stopped. The strength of the Tokugawa family will be greatly reduced, and the control of the whole of Japan will also be greatly reduced.

Thinking about it, Tokugawa Iemitsu angrily slapped the folding fan on the platform and said loudly, "I have made up my mind!" Recruit another 200,000 troops to hold Edo and never surrender to Li Zhi! ”

However, after Tokugawa Iemitsu said this, there was a deathly silence in the palace, and not a single daimyo answered.

Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the daimyo and officials in the palace in amazement, but saw that they were all looking at him indifferently, as if they were looking at a naughty boy who was talking nonsense.

Toshikatsu Doi slowly moved his knees, sat down in the middle of the palace, and said loudly: "Your Highness, don't fight Li Zhi anymore!" ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu glared at Toshikatsu Doi and was speechless.

Doi Toshikatsu said loudly: "Now the people of the feudal clan are all waiting to see Li Zhi attack Edo. If you lose to Li Zhi again and lose Edo, I'm afraid that the world of the Tokugawa family will not be protected! ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the other shogunate officials, only to find that they were all looking at Doi Toshikatsu with a firm gaze, and they all seemed to be on Doi's side. What he said became nonsense that no one paid attention to.

Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the daimyo again, hoping that the princes of the Tokugawa family would support his decision.

However, the faces of the princes were also Furui Wubo, as if they had not heard Tokugawa Iemitsu's words.

Date Tadamune lowered his head, moved out of the queue and sat in the middle of the palace, and said loudly: "Your Royal Highness General, at this time, you should accept Li Zhi's conditions for negotiation, and you can't renew the war. Otherwise, Li Zhi led his army to attack Edo, and the daimyo of the world would be ready to move, and the Tokugawa family would be in danger at that time. ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu glared angrily at Date Tadamune, and was resentful of the fact that this foreign daimyo was openly opposed to him.

However, by this time, the daimyo in various places had already disappointed Tokugawa Iemitsu, and the Shogun Seiyi had become a loner, and no one cared about his anger.

Tokugawa Iemitsu glanced at the more than 100 people in the palace, but he couldn't find a single person to support him.

Tokugawa Iemitsu finally couldn't control his anger, threw the folding fan to the ground, and strode out of the palace with a flick of his hand.

Looking at the departing figure of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the more than 100 people in the palace did not react.

After a long time, Doi Toshikatsu said slowly: "I will preside over the affairs of the shogunate, and borrow money from merchants while dismissing the samurai, and I will definitely give 10 million taels to Li Zhi within three months." ”

The three princes of the "Imperial Three Family", who also had the right to inherit the shogun, moved a step forward and bowed to Doi Toshikatsu. Among them, the highly respected Tokugawa Yoshinao said loudly: "Increase the four territories of Shimazu, and please ask the elder for the matter of concession Osaka to Li Zhi." ”

With the support of the Gosan family, even if the Tokugawa shogun was against it, Doi Toshikatsu could let it go. Doi Toshikatsu bowed to the three princes and said loudly, "I will send envoys to Osaka and accept Li Zhi's request!" ”

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On the eighth day of February, Lee Sik boarded a ship at the port of Osaka and prepared to leave Japan.

Shimazu Hisamitsu and Mori Shu waited for four daimyo who obeyed Li Zhi's orders to rush to the dock to see Li Zhi off.

The Tokugawa shogunate had accepted Li Zhi's request in its entirety and completely surrendered to Li Zhi. Li Zhi asked Zheng Kaida to deal with the follow-up matters in Japan and went back to Tianjin by himself.

Li Zhi heard that Tokugawa Iemitsu had been overthrown by the elder Doi Toshikatsu, and that the shogunate's surrender was operated by Doi Toshikatsu. But Li Zhi doesn't care about these details. The 10 million taels of silver that Li Zhi cared about, the Tokugawa shogunate had already begun to borrow it with all its might. The first batch of three million taels of silver arrived in Osaka on the 20th of last month. It is said that the second and third batches will also arrive in one or two months.

Coupled with the grain that Li Zhi took in Osaka, Li Zhi's trip to Japan can be said to be a full return. Boatloads of loot were shipped to Tianjin, and I don't know how many trips it would take to get there.

Not only that, after this battle, Li Zhi's men also sent 30,000 more Japanese soldiers and horses out.

Now Shimazu and the other four daimyo loyal to Li Zhi have greatly increased their strength, and they can send 30,000 soldiers and horses to accompany Li Zhi to conquer at any time. Although the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was not as good as that of the Ming army, 30,000 people were also a considerable force.

On the wharf, four princes stood in a row headed by Mitsuhisa Shimazu. Seeing Li Zhi coming over, the four daimyo bowed abruptly and bent their bodies to one hundred and eighty degrees.