After the conversation with Shinfu ended, Tokugawa Hidetada, who was sitting in a daze for a while, suddenly asked Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who was kneeling on the side, "What do you think of the conversation I just had with the envoy?" ”

Matsudaira Nobutsuna thought about it carefully, and then said cautiously: "Back to Your Highness, the minister thinks that the Ming invasion of our country has been planned for a long time, otherwise there will be a change in Junfu, and it is impossible for the rebellion of the three feudatories in the southwest and the invasion of the Ming fleet to happen at the same time. ”

Xiuzhong nodded slightly, agreeing with Matsudaira Nobutsuna's statement, "That's right, so how do you think the shogunate should deal with this matter?" ”

Matsudaira Nobutsuna pondered for a long time before he said: "How unwise is the Ming Lord, crossing the sea to attack our country, his army must not be much, but the money and food consumed must be amazing.

The minister heard that there is still a big enemy in the north, and the Ming country has never had the upper hand in fighting against it for many years, and the elite of the Ming army and the money and grain of the whole country are mostly used on the enemy in the north. Isn't it unwise to provoke our country before the great enemy has gone?

Although China is small, it has a population of more than 2,000 and nearly one million people with armor. At that time, more than 100,000 soldiers and horses of our country could not conquer a single Korea, and today the Ming Kingdom wants to attack us with a small number of men and horses across the sea, so it wants our country to submit, is it not ridiculous.

The minister thinks that the trouble of our country today is not in the Ming Kingdom and the Southern Barbarians, but in the internal princes. If there is no subordinates of His Royal Highness Zhongchang and the rebel princes in the southwest as the main force, even if the Ming Kingdom is powerless.

The minister thought that if he wanted to break this situation, the first thing was to concentrate his forces to defeat the rebels of Osaka and the southwestern domains, and if there was no one to respond, the Ming people would have nothing to rely on.

This battle was a matter of survival for the shogunate, and the minister implored His Highness to levy the allied forces of the Kwantung princes, and to make every effort to destroy the Osaka rebels while the southwest rebels and the Osaka rebels had not yet been united.

If this war drags on for a long time, the authority of the shogunate declines, and the ministers are afraid that the princes of the world will take the opportunity to rise up, and then the world will be in chaos, then the plan of the Ming people will really come true. ”

After listening to Matsudaira Nobutsuna's words, Tokugawa Hidetada, who was sitting upright, seemed thoughtful, and it took a long time for him to sigh and say: "Others praise you in front of me for being wise Izu, and there is really some truth.

What you just said is very good, in such a situation, only if the shogunate does its best, as it did against the Toyotomi clan in the past, and uses every ounce of strength, can victory be guaranteed without fail. However, in this day, the shogunate is not able to use all its strength. ”

Matsudaira Nobutsuna looked up at Xiuzhong in surprise and asked, "Why did Your Highness say that?" ”

Tokugawa Hidetada stretched out his finger and pointed at himself and said, "My body is the reason why the shogunate can't use all his strength. Two or three years ago, whether I personally summoned the princes to go on the expedition or asked Iemitsu to lead the troops to the expedition, Edo would not have to worry about being left alone.

However, since the beginning of this year, my body has been getting worse day by day, and the day of the great revolution is not far away. At this time, the princes of the world are mobilized to send troops, and if the war continues and I am already dead, I am afraid that the Tokugawa shogunate founded by the Gonkenden will really die. ”

Matsudaira Nobutsuna was suddenly dumbfounded, and after His Royal Highness Tadashi raised the flag of rebellion, the two relatives of Owari and Kishu behaved a little strangely. If, as the Great Imperial Palace said, the dispatch of troops to quell the rebellion has not yet been completed, and the Imperial Palace has passed away, the civil strife in the shogunate is really not a guess.

Whether it was Tokugawa Hidetada or Matsudaira Nobutsuna, they all believed that the world existed for the Tokugawa shogunate, not the other way around.

As long as the shogunate still exists, even if it loses the entire Kansai region, the shogunate still owns half of Japan. But if the shogunate exhausts its strength, then the Tokugawa clan will follow the back path of the Toyotomi clan, which is obviously not acceptable to Hidetada.

Matsudaira Nobutsuna reacted at this time, compared with the Ming Dynasty, it was the shogunate who could not afford to drag on this war.

He hesitated for a long time before asking in a low voice: "Then His Highness summoned the envoy here today, not just to find out the requirements of the explorer, but to have other plans?" ”

Tokugawa Hidetada nodded slightly and said, "Yes, if Ii Naotaka and Abe Masaji lose the battle, we will have to reach a compromise with Ming Guo as soon as possible." Even if Osaka is returned to Tenshu, it is necessary to ensure that the Kanto region is not affected by the war.

As long as the Ming people can withdraw from this war, those insatiable southern barbarians and southwestern rebels will not be able to cooperate. After the smooth transition of power from the shogunate, it is not too late to plot against the western region.

After all, there is a great deal of ocean between the Ming Kingdom and our country, and how can today's strength be maintained for a long time. If the Ming Kingdom is weakened, how can Tianxiuni keep the Osaka area? Therefore, we don't have to compete with the Ming people for a while, but we just need to endure..."

Only then did Matsudaira Nobutsuna understand why Xiuzhong wanted to observe this conversation by himself today, this was to entrust him with the future. Unlike Hidetada, who experienced the rise of the Tokugawa family, Iemitsu was already a natural shogun when he was born.

Therefore, Xiuzhong knows how to be patient, while Iemitsu is more impulsive and always likes to adopt arbitrary policies. In the face of the Japanese princes, whose strength was far inferior to that of the shogunate, Iemitsu's approach was not a mistake. But in the face of a behemoth like the Ming Kingdom, blindly being tough is digging a grave for the Tokugawa clan.

Xiuzhong knew that he was the most trusted retainer of Iemitsu, and only he could stop the stubborn and somewhat withdrawn Iemitsu from making a wrong decision. Matsudaira Nobutsuna bowed to the ground and swore to Hidetada from the bottom of his heart that he would never forget what Hidetada had told him today.

While the Japanese archipelago was in full swing preparing for the next war, Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, 3,000 miles away, was a peaceful scene.

Although a very widespread earthquake struck the south a few months ago, thanks to the decisive and swift action of the imperial court, the impact of this natural disaster on the grain-producing region of Huguang was minimized.

The people of Gyeonggi, who were far away from the earthquake area and benefited from the initial results of the Haihe River control project this year, quickly returned to their own lives.

Because of the emergence of various new industries, it is difficult to see any idlers on the streets of Beijing and Tianjin. Even the refugees from eastern Liaodong and the displaced people from the north, who were once seen as local destabilizing factors, are now regarded as fragrant buns by the factory owners in the two places, and are constantly being dragged to the newly opened workshops.

These new workshops were like an endless sponge, absorbing surplus labor from the vicinity of Gyeonggi and starting to recruit people further afield. Of course, there are also some workshops that process agricultural products, and simply move their workshops to the production area and use the local cheap labor and abundant raw materials for processing.

The new factories, which were mainly invested by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and large businessmen, were mainly concentrated in Mentougou, Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan and other places, are now spreading from the Gyeonggi area to the surrounding areas, especially in Baoding and Luoyang.

The addition of these new workshops has greatly improved the status of craftsmen. After the abolition of the artisan household system, the income of artisans who were able to work freely immediately exceeded that of yeoman farmers, and the income of ordinary traders was similar to that of ordinary traders.

Under these circumstances, the technical schools for the cultivation of artisan skills were finally accepted by the people, and some yeoman farmers and small traders began to send their children to technical schools, hoping that they would learn a trade to support themselves.

In addition to the large demand for craftsmen, new technologies and new machines have also become the objects of enthusiasm for workshop owners. This enthusiasm from the people also made the study of natural sciences popular.

Mathematics, which is the foundation of all science, has also changed from a small hobby of the literati to a truly esoteric knowledge. Of course, this is not unrelated to the admiration of mathematics that Chongzhen has been working hard for.

Nowadays, even the newly enrolled students of Yenching University know that anyone who talks about poetry and articles in front of the emperor is asked to leave by the emperor after only a few words. But if you talk about a mathematical equation in front of the emperor, maybe the emperor will not get tired of talking to you for hours.

What is good at the top will be very bad at the bottom. Chongzhen's habit made the officials of various ministries begin to learn new learning, and some people even asked a teacher to explain the new learning for themselves. Although there are many old stubborns who can't keep up with the situation and think that the emperor is the right way to abandon learning, such people are a minority after all, and they are soon abandoned by the mainstream.

In early November, the Royal Academy of Sciences will hold a mathematical symposium and invite two mathematicians who claim to have calculated the orbit of the moon to publicly talk about their calculations, and the news that the Royal Academy will award them a prize of 5,000 yuan quickly caused a sensation in the city.

Although not everyone can understand how to calculate the orbit of the moon, everyone is curious to see if the two researchers can get this huge amount of money.

The mathematics seminar in the auditorium of Yenching University was crowded with hundreds of students and citizens on November 4. When Chongzhen arrived at the venue, Xu Guangqi, who was presiding over the meeting, finally cleared a road.

When Xu Guangqi invited Chongzhen to walk in front of him, Zhu Youzhen stopped and said to him: "Today is a mathematical seminar held by the Royal Academy of Sciences, and in the world of science, there is no truth that changes because of power, and naturally there is no distinction between emperors and commoners.

As President of the Royal Academy of Sciences, you deserve to be at the forefront. Today, I am just a student who has come to listen to the truth of science. ”

Xu Guangqi only paused for a moment, then looked up at the surrounding students and citizens who were watching with bated breath, and then said to the emperor with a smile: "Since Your Majesty said so, then I will forgive the ministers for being rude today." ”

Xu Guangqi was the first to walk into the venue under Chongzhen's courtesy, and the emperor's words quickly spread throughout the venue.

Chongzhen nodded to the audience around him, and when he walked to the first row of seats, he mentioned to Xu Guangqi again: "Since we are all here to listen to people's speeches today, then we should let the speakers stand on the stage so that more people can see them." As for us sitting in the audience, what do you think? ”

Xu Guangqi looked at Chongzhen and nodded slowly and said, "Then according to Your Majesty's wishes..."