After the meeting, Yan Siqi sent Yang Tiansheng to interrogate the captives, but he unexpectedly asked a big secret. It turned out that the Shimazu clan had already captured Ryukyu, and had been paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty in the name of Ryukyu, and they robbed the Ryukyu materials, especially the tribute given by the Ming Dynasty, so that their economic situation was very good, so their equipment was even stronger than some genealogy daimyos.

However, Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, which was a serious diplomatic incident, and Yan Siqi immediately passed the information to Jeju and handed it over to Ma Shiying. Ma Shiying couldn't slack off, and sent someone to Jingshi and sent it to the palace.

After receiving the report, Zhu Youxiao quickly convened the ministers to discuss the Ryukyu issue. Why is it so urgent, because Ryukyu can be called the first feudal state in the minds of the Ming people.

Starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and during the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang once gave 36 Fujian people surnames to immigrate to Zhongshan to help the local people build ships to facilitate exchanges.

Before the Longqing switch, Ryukyu was the vassal state that paid the most tribute to China, and the Ming Dynasty gave the greatest preferential treatment to Ryukyu, which was called "Little China". The "tribute" (i.e., goods) brought by the Ming Dynasty to the Ryukyuan people were often purchased at high prices.

For example, the price of pepper at origin is 10 yuan per catty, and the purchase price of pepper trafficked by merchant ships from other countries is 3 guan 1 jin (1 guan = 1,000 yuan), while the purchase price of pepper brought by Ryukyu merchant ships is as high as 30 yuan per catty. As a result, this kind of trade in the name of tribute was unusually profitable, which also showed that in the eyes of the Ming court, Ryukyu was different from other vassal states.

The Japanese were very greedy for the huge profits of the tribute trade in the Ryukyus, and after the defeat in the Korean War, the Sino-Japanese war led to the Ming Dynasty banning trade with them, and the Satsuma Domain, located at the southernmost tip of Kyushu Island, was financially exhausted, so they proposed: "There is no other way but to put the Ryukyus under the territory and make them free to serve as an intermediary in trade with the Ming Dynasty."

In the 38th year of Wanli, with the consent of the Tokugawa shogunate, Shimazu Tadashi, the lord of the Satsuma domain, sent more than 3,000 troops and more than 100 ships to invade the Ryukyus. They carried 700 arquebuses, and the entire Ryukyu Kingdom had not been at war for more than 100 years, and their armaments were weak, with only 500 bows, 300 armor, and 300 guns.

The Satsuma generals, led by the main general Hisataka Kayama, were divided into four groups and spent seven or eight days seizing all the gold, silver, silk, and valuables in Shuri (the former capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom).

The Satsuma clan forced the Ryukyu king to submit an oath, emphasizing that the Ryukyus had been a vassal of the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma domain since ancient times, and that the Ryukyu king must be loyal to the lord of the Satsuma domain for generations; In the Ryukyus, the Japanese-style "land inspection" was introduced, and the stone height (annual output) of the Ryukyus was determined to be 127,000 koku; Privately, the five islands of the Amami Islands in northern Ryukyu (about 33,000 koku in stone height) were transferred to the Satsuma domain, and the Ryukyus had to pay the Shimazu clan 9,000 koku in taxes every year and various other materials.

This was the basic situation of the interrogation, and after the clerk read it out, there was silence, but most of the officials were already angry.

Zhu Youxiao asked: "Is there any abnormality in the tribute of the Ryukyus in the past few years?" ”

Zhu Yanxi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has been serving in the Ministry of Rites before, and has presided over the reception of tributary envoys in the past few years. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "This matter is related to the Ministry of Rites, how should I deal with it?" ”

Zhu Yanxi bowed and said: "The last time Korea was just a change of throne, and Yuan Futai said that he would conquer North Korea. Today, I know that Ryukyu has suffered like this, and I ask Your Majesty to conquer Japan and restore the Ryukyus. ”

Zhu Youxiao looked at the other officials again, only to see Fang Congzhe and Ye Xianggao kneeling down first: "Please Your Majesty to conquer Japan and restore the country for the Ryukyus." The other officials knelt on the ground and said, "Please ask Your Majesty to conquer Japan and restore the Ryukyus." ”

Zhu Youxiao was a little surprised, these officials, who usually don't like to fight, were so consistent this time, which was somewhat unexpected to him. In fact, he didn't understand that Ming Dynasty officials didn't like to attack other people's places, such as the last Jeju Island incident, some officials didn't think so.

But now that someone else hits you in the face first, then it's really an uncle who can bear it, and an aunt who can't bear it. Just like in the original history, the war with Houjin has always been at a disadvantage, but no one dares to openly negotiate peace. Chen Xinjia finally made a peace treaty under Chongzhen's instructions, but as soon as the matter was leaked, Chongzhen was killed as a scapegoat.

It was rare for everyone to agree, and Zhu Youxiao stood up and said: "First send troops to defeat the Satsuma Domain, restore the Ryukyu Kingdom, send an envoy to hold Japan accountable, and if the answer is not satisfactory, then conquer the whole of Japan." ”

The ministers chanted together: "The emperor is sage." ”

After the court meeting, the ministers and the six ministries still stayed in the palace to discuss the requisition. First of all, Fang Congzhe and Ye Xianggao wrote an article on the history and current situation of the Ryukyus and published it in the weekly newspaper, so that the people could understand why they were fighting this war.

Then there is the specific matter of sending troops, because the first division of the Guards Army is in southern Liaoning, and the second division is on Juehua Island, so there is no way to move. The 1st Independent Brigade has already arrived in Japan, and the 3rd Division can only be used to increase the number of troops.

As for Han Yi's proposal to use the Fujian navy, Zhu Youxiao also denied it, and the current Dutch are far from quieting down, and no one knows when there will be a war. Therefore, in the end, it was decided that Zhou Yuji would take two infantry battalions and an artillery battalion to Japan, join Mangui, and conquer the Satsuma Domain together.

At this time, the shogunate had already received the battle report, and Tokugawa Hidetada scolded fiercely: "When you fight against us, you seem to be very powerful, and when you encounter a group of pirates, you end up fighting like this, which is really happy." ”

The shogunate's feelings about the daimyo were very complicated, on the one hand, they had to guard against them, and they were afraid that they would oppose the shogunate, so the defeat of the pirates and the weakening of their strength was of course something that the shogunate wanted to see. But on the other hand, I felt that I couldn't even beat the pirates, and I lost the face of the Daimyo, that is, the face of the shogunate.

Scolding and scolding, Hirado must be defeated, although it does not mean that he must take back the territory for the Matsuura family, but at least he must not let a Chinese pirate rob the Japanese place. It's no problem for everyone to fight in the nest, but the outside ones naturally have to work together to fight back.

This time, Tokugawa Hidetada learned the lesson of the last time he underestimated the enemy, and decided to send a number of daimyo to attack together, and the original participants Nagato, Chikuzen, and Satsuma Sanbo of course still have to participate, in addition, Chikugo, Higo, Bunzen, Bungo, Shubo, Hinata, Iwami, and Izumo will all participate, and will also send troops directly under Edo to attack Hirado after converging together.

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