After listening to the details of the Battle of Hiroshima, Hidetada and Shogun Iemitsu and his son were silent. After a long time, Jiaguang's eyes finally became firm, and he waved his hand to let the others in the room retreat, and then turned to his father and said.

"After these two wars, the authority of the shogunate was deeply shaken. Only by mobilizing all the forces at its disposal and fighting to the death with the combined forces of the Ming and Southwest Princes near Osaka can the shogunate be able to win back the hearts and minds of the people in the world and maintain the shogunate system established by the current palace of Sumitoen.

Otherwise, once the Shogunate forces are allowed to advance into Kyoto and gain control of the Imperial Court, I am afraid that we will not even be able to command the princes of the Kanto region, and the shogunate will be on the verge of extinction. ”

Xiuzhong glanced up at Jiaguang and saw this son, who had always been taciturn, his eyes were bloodshot at the moment, like an antelope forced by a hunter to the edge of a cliff.

He retracted his gaze with some disappointment and said: "Don't want to fight with people at every turn, is it possible that our situation will be difficult now, when my grandfather was assassinated by his retainers, Quan Xiandian was sent to Imagawa Pavilion as a hostage, and the family was fully controlled by the Imagawa family?"

If Quan Xiandian is like you, you have to fight with people at every turn, and it is estimated that there will be no Tokugawa family in this world for a long time. What do you think you relied on to survive the troubled times and finally put an end to the troubled times? ”

Xiuzhong's persuasion did not make Jiaguang wake up, but Jiaguang hid the emotions that had just been rarely revealed again, and listened to his father's teachings.

Seeing Jiaguang bowing his head and being silent, Xiuzhong, who thought that the other party had listened to his words, continued with satisfaction: "Everyone in the world knows that the word patience was most often on the lips of Quan Xiandian during his lifetime. But patience is not simply enduring and doing nothing, but looking upwards and not forgetting one's limits.

After these two wars, Saigoku was out of the shogunate, and we still haven't been able to figure out where we were defeated. The fall of Osaka Castle was careless, the sneak attack of Abe Masaji was careless, the defeat of Naotaka Ii was careless, and even the defeat of the princes' coalition in the entire China region was careless, how can there be so many coincidences in this world.

If we don't figure out where we have failed, but we want to use all the power in our hands to fight desperately against the Fallen Coalition forces, this is the way to defeat. The Ming Kingdom, the Southern Barbarians, and the Southwest Princes, the power of these enemies is placed in the Ming place, but the enemies within my shogunate, do you know where they are? ”

The silent Iemitsu was finally shaken, and he subconsciously looked up at his father, and asked with some confusion: "An enemy inside the shogunate?" What did my father say? ”

Xiuzhong was silent for a moment before saying: "For example, the Ouyue Domain was only forced to obey the shogunate because of the power of the Quan Xian Palace, but now that the shogunate is no longer able to suppress the princes of the Western Kingdom, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not have other thoughts.

Or maybe some of the daimyo within the Tokugawa clan have always been eyeing the shogunate, and now that the shogunate has suffered setbacks on the battlefield, no one will want to question your shogunship..."

Jiaguang thought about it for a long time, and he couldn't decide on the gains and losses in his heart, so he couldn't help but ask Xiuzhong again: "So what does my father think we should do now?" ”

Xiuzhong blinked his eyes and said without thinking: "At present, I can only make peace with the Ming people, without the help of the Ming people, whether it is the southwestern princes or those southern barbarians, it will not last long." In addition, at this time, the shogunate should handle the affairs of the Kwantung princes more carefully, and not exacerbate the contradictions between them and the shogunate, and we need their support now. ”

Jiaguang was silent for a long time before he endured the entanglement in his heart and said, "Father thinks that who should be handed over to handle this matter is more appropriate?" ”

Xiuzhong thought for a moment and said: "Let Matsudaira Nobutsuna accompany the Ming envoy Shinfu to Nara, and Ii Naotaka and Matsudaira Nobutsuna will be responsible for the peace talks, and the top priority is to stop the Fallen Coalition Army and not march to Kyoto." The next order was given to Yoshinao, and he was asked to set up a defensive line in Kyoto. I gave an order to the Kyoto Shoji Iwakura Shigemune that if there is any discord, he should immediately serve the Imperial Court Higashikashi Edo..."

Just as Hidetada's father and son were about to compromise with the coalition forces, a group of Ming, Dutch, and Spaniards attacked the Iwami Ginzan, which was not just a mountain, but the domain of 152 villages in the area east of the river.

Since the Tokugawa clan took over the world, the area of these 152 villages became the direct domain of the shogunate. When the army invaded the area, most of the shogunate warriors stationed there retreated after hearing the news of the defeat of Hiroshima, which made it easy for the Triple Alliance to take the area.

However, when the samurai fled, they apparently did not dare to touch the property belonging to the shogunate, but they were not willing to accept the theft of the warehouse, so they put a seal on the door of the warehouse and wrote a warning.

The first to find these warehouses was the Ming people, and the officer who led the team tore off the seal noncommittally and opened a stone warehouse, and the silver nuggets placed in the warehouse immediately dazzled the eyes of the officers and soldiers who entered the warehouse. The officer who led the team immediately withdrew from the warehouse, resealed the seal, and reported to the officers in the rear.

Soon, however, the Dutch and Spaniards found the place, and the soldiers of the three sides almost got into a fight over the warehouses. In the end, under the mediation of Zhou Yuji, who led the troops, and Wilkirk, a Dutch official, the three parties jointly counted and sealed the deposits.

At the time of the first count, the deposit contained 25 tons. But in the report submitted to the Hiroshima Allied Forces Command, the figure was 22 tons. When the silver deposit was transported from the mountain warehouse and arrived at the coast, it became another 19 tons. In the end, the central bank received the figure of 17 tons.

The shrinking amount of this silver raised questions from the British and Portuguese. But the Mingren, the Dutch, and the Spaniards, who had been wary of each other before, excused each other. This led the British and Portuguese to propose a reorganization of the composition of the northern and southern fleets.

So when Ye Yuxuan and Toyotomi Chiyo were sailing to Osaka, a new detachment of 17 ships consisting of Ming Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom set off from Hiroshima, Ube, Shimonoseki and other places, bypassed the west side of Honshu Island, and headed for Sado Treasure Island in the northern part of Honshu Island.

Of course, no matter how much the five countries were at odds with, they all unanimously rejected the Mori family's desire to reclaim Iwami Ginzan and the Satsuma and Kumamoto clans' desire to share the benefits of Iwami Ginzan. With the brave performance of the Ming army in the Battle of Hiroshima, these southwestern princes finally chose to retreat.

However, the arrogant behavior of these southern barbarians has aroused the dissatisfaction of the princes. Bow down to the Ming people, but there are thousands of years of cultural transmission, and the Central Plains Dynasty has been based on the strong force of the Daoyi for thousands of years. And these Nanban people not only did not fit in with the Japanese in terms of culture and customs, but they were also on a par with the Japanese in terms of military force, and they actually learned to shout at them from the Ming people, which made the princes in the coalition feel that their pride was humiliated.

For the Dutch, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese, they did not notice the change in the attitude of the Japanese princes towards them, and were bent on destroying the indigenous kingdom of the East and then plundering everything in the country. Just like they had done after defeating the native kingdoms elsewhere.

It was only the British, who had not yet fully entered the role of overseas colonization, who were now a rookie at sea under the double oppression of the Dutch and the Spaniards, who were more aware of the mood changes of the losers. Therefore, at the coalition meeting, he made a few distinctions for these southwestern princes, and thought that they should also share in the glory of victory. The British also established some contact with the Satsuma people.

Although the representatives of the Ming Kingdom headed by Ye Yuxuan saw the problem, they did not try to mediate the rift between the two sides, but intentionally or unintentionally deepened the contradictions between the two sides.

As for the reason, after Ye Yuxuan arrived in Osaka, he stopped Xu Xinsu and Li Chenfang from wanting to recapture Nara, creating an advantage to further oppress Kyoto.

Ye Yuxuan said firmly to the two of them: "The war between us and the shogunate is over, and the next time is the time to negotiate with the shogunate. Over-oppression of the shogunate will certainly give us an advantage in the subsequent negotiations, but it may not satisfy the southwestern princes.

We didn't really come to Japan to bring down the shogunate for them. Without the threat of the shogunate, how could these southwestern princes obey us. And having lost the shogunate's control over Japan, who are we going to negotiate with? Therefore, we should now send a message to the shogunate to negotiate peace.

Naotaka Ii, who was trapped in Naotaka, was the best person to build a bridge between us and the shogunate, so how could you get him out of Nara again? ”

Xu Xinsu said with some unhappiness: "But nearly one-third of the princes have sent us gifts and letters, which shows that the rule of the shogunate in the region is already shaky.

If we were able to sever the connection between the shogunate and Kyoto, it might be easier for the Kyoto court to submit to us than the shogunate, which might bring us more benefits. ”

Ye Yuxuan retorted: "Xu Xunyue makes you think about it, now it is the entire coalition army that is holding peace talks with the shogunate, not that I, the Ming Dynasty, are making peace with the shogunate alone." No matter how many benefits we are fighting for now, we will not be able to put them all in our pockets. And a sluggish Japan will only cheapen those Europeans, and will not be good for His Majesty's next plans. ”

Li Chenfang suddenly asked with some emotion: "Your Majesty's next plan?" What is that? ”

Ye Yuxuan shook his head at him and said, "Without Your Majesty's permission, I can't reveal anything to you, but when this war is over, Your Majesty should announce the follow-up plan to you." ”

After hearing this, Li Chenfang, who was still hesitating, nodded and said, "Since this involves His Majesty's plan, then I support Deputy Envoy Ye's decision." ”

Seeing this, Xu Xinsu had no choice but to change his words and say, "Since Your Majesty has other plans, then I also agree with your decision." But what do you think about the upcoming meeting of the Kansai princes in Osaka? ”