Not long after Ye Yuxuan, Xu Xinsu, and Li Chenfang privately decided to suspend their war plans against Kyoto, an Amuro monk from Kyoto's Daitokuji Temple quietly came to Osaka and met with the castle lord Li Chenfang under the introduction of Councilor Tsuda Toshikyu.

Kyoto Daitokuji Temple was built in the Kamakura period and is the largest temple in Rakuhoku, famous for its tea ceremony culture. Legend has it that the wise monk is the presiding officer of Daitokuji Temple.

In the article "The Law of the Five Mountains and Ten Temples of the Mountains" issued by the shogunate, the official temples of the Five Mountains faction were appointed as the abbots of the mountains according to the official post of the shogunate; Daitoku and Myoshin temples must be approved by the emperor, that is, they can only be abbots after receiving a holy decree.

In the fifth year of Kanei (1628), the Shogakure sect was prepared to be the abbot of Jinshan after accepting the edict of Emperor Gomizuo, but the shogunate wanted to forcibly terminate it on the grounds that the shogunate had violated the "Motowa law" by entering the temple, and at the same time confiscated the holy decree and purple clothes of fifteen abbots of Daitokuji Temple since Motowa, which was the purple clothes incident that shocked Japan a few years ago.

Due to the complete defeat of the imperial court in the Purple Cloth Incident, and the Kasuga Incident that followed, the reigning Masahito abdicated in anger and passed the throne to the imperial daughter, Prince Kokonai, who was less than seven years old. Of course, there are also speculations that Masahito is worried that Nakanomiya Tokugawa Kazuko will give birth to a prince, causing the throne to fall into the hands of the Tokugawa clan. Therefore, he simply abdicated to the imperial daughter in advance to put an end to the shogunate's prying eyes on the throne.

The relationship between Daitokuji Temple and the imperial court was close, and the arrival of the monk Amuro was assigned by his master, Jiang Yuezong, to contact Li Chenfang, the deputy envoy of the East China Sea Trail of the Ming Kingdom, on behalf of Emperor Taishang, who called himself Gomio-in after his abdication.

Monk Amuro explained a lot to Li Chenfang, but the other party still looked suspicious. Congressman Tsuda Rikyu suddenly stepped forward and whispered a few words to Li Chenfang, it turned out that this Jiang Yue Zongwan was not only a close confidant of Emperor Taishang, but also a hardliner who advocated opposing the shogunate's disposal in the Purple Clothes Incident, and Jiang Yue Zongwan was from the Tsuda family.

In other words, Tsuda Rikyu assured Li Chenfang that the news brought by the Amuro monk was true. Tsuda Rikyu also told him that Originally, Egetsu Zongwan wanted to come in person, but now that he was being watched by the shogunate, he could only send his disciples to relay the news. Because he was afraid of being intercepted by the shogunate halfway, the other party did not dare to fall into words, so he could only be conveyed by the monk Amuro.

After Li Chenfang listened to Tsuda Rikyu's explanation, he nodded lazily at Monk Amuro and said, "Your empty words come here really make me hard to believe that what you are relaying is not the meaning of Houshuiwei Temple." However, since there is a guarantee from Tsuda-sen, I will listen to what you have to say. You say. ”

After Monk Amuro glanced at Tsuda Rikyu, who was sitting next to him, he recounted: "The meaning of Gomioin is that the Ming Emperor is the lord of China, and he, as the lord of a small state in Japan, has long wanted to go to China to see the face of heaven.

However, the state is unfortunate, although the country is small, but the chaos and thieves emerge in endlessly. First, there were local warriors who had no court in their eyes, attacked and killed each other, and ravaged the people for hundreds of years, killing and injuring countless people.

Later, the three daimyo of the Oda clan, the Toyotomi clan, and the Tokugawa clan ended the dispute between the princes and brought decades of peace to Japan. However, although these three families have the merit of ending the troubled times, they do not have the ambition to help the court and clear the world.

The three daimyos all have no discipline in the imperial court, regard the world as private property, and regard the imperial court as nothing. This attracted the thunderous wrath of the Ming Emperor, as the lord of the small state, the Houshui Courtyard was very supportive of the Ming Dynasty's righteous crusade against the shogunate. He hoped that the Ming Dynasty would support the Kyoto Imperial Court in re-establishing the ruling order in Japan in order to end the chaos of the warriors in various places. Hou Mizuo also hopes to be able to go to China in the future to meet His Majesty the Emperor..."

Although the expression on Li Chenfang's face has not changed, there is a lot of ridicule in his heart, does this Houshuiwei Courtyard regard Da Ming as a fool, thinking that as long as he says a few good words to Da Ming, he can take away many benefits from Da Ming.

However, he thought so in his heart, but he did not intend to categorically reject the persuasion of the Amuro monk. He ordered Tsuda Toshikyu to settle the monk Amuro well, and as for the proposal of Gomizuoin, he said that he would consider it carefully for a few days.

After Monk Amuro left, Li Chenfang relayed his words to Xu Xinsu and Ye Yuxuan. After discussion, the three finally decided that they should neither accept nor reject the proposal of the Houmio Academy, but could invite the other party to Beijing and let the emperor decide how to deal with the other party's request.

On November 29, the princes of the Western Kingdom arrived at Osaka Castle either in person or sent their cronies. The Tokushima and Tosa domains, the two major princes of the Shikoku region, also sent important ministers to the scene, but to the surprise of some, the Kii domain also sent a representative, and although the representative claimed to have come to observe the princes' assembly, everyone knew what was going on.

Since even a pro-vassal like Kii had sent an envoy, the representatives of the other princes were naturally more at ease. At this moment, most of the princes of the Western Kingdom already felt that the sky in Japan was about to change, and whether the Tokugawa shogunate would be a copy of the next Toyotomi world.

The Osaka meeting, which the princes of the western kingdom attended, mainly discussed two things. The first is how to distribute and adjust the territories of the various feudal domains of the Western Kingdom, and those genealogical retainers and relatives of the shogunate should naturally be changed and reduced, and the southwestern princes who first raised the banner of the downfall should also be rewarded.

The second is that after the Tokugawa shogunate was pushed, what kind of world should Japan establish, and who should replace the position of the Tokugawa clan and become the lord of Japan.

These two matters are the core issues that the princes attending the meeting are most concerned about. The redistribution of land in the western kingdom is an extremely troublesome matter, but it can always be carried out slowly.

Only this second thing is the most troublesome for everyone. The biggest problem with the current Coalition is the lack of a leader. When the Tokugawa clan united with the five elders to subvert the Toyotomi world, at least the power of the Tokugawa clan was far superior to that of the princes, so when Tokugawa Ieyasu finally opened Edo, he was still able to subdue the princes of the world, and no one would choose the wrong position.

But this time, the coalition army of the curtain fell not the head of a strong domain, but under the central alliance of the Ming Dynasty, it set off this tide of collapse, and even the three major wars of the Western Kingdom were also intervened by the power of the Ming Kingdom.

Therefore, although the Fallen Coalition Army has four main forces, known as the three powerful feudal clans in the southwest and the remnants of Toyotomi, none of them can convince the princes of the Western Kingdom. However, the other princes also knew that in addition to these four forces, it was impossible for others to replace the Tokugawa clan, because behind them stood the Great Ming.

Before the Ming Dynasty did not make a clear statement, no prince of the Western Kingdom would bet at will to avoid betting on the wrong object, resulting in his own family becoming a thorn in the side of the people of the world in the future.

Satsuma, Kumamoto, Choshu and Toyotomi, although Satsuma's military force seems to be slightly stronger than the other three, but the geography of the southwestern tip of Kyushu Island made the western princes the first to exclude it. The daimyo who can't control Kyoto can't control Japan.

It was not easy for the Satsuma Domain, far from Kyoto, to take control of Kyoto, and if the Satsuma Domain seized a piece of land near Kyoto as a partition, it would inevitably harm the interests of the princes of the region, so no one would choose to support Satsuma to govern Japan in private conversations.

The Kumamoto Domain's predicament was the same as that of the Satsuma Domain, with only the Choshu Domain and the Toyotomi Clan still in contention. As long as the Choshu Domain regains Aki and some territories in the Chugoku region, the road to Kyoto will become unimpeded.

And the Toyotomi clan is really as rumored, if he takes back the territory of the Osaka Plain, his geographical location is even better than that of the Choshu domain. It's just that Toyotomi Chiyo is a woman after all, and the Toyotomi remnants don't have any outstanding talents, even if the Ming Kingdom finally chooses the Toyotomi clan, after the Ming people leave, Toyotomi Chiyo may not be able to keep this fertile land.

On the third day of the general meeting of the princes, Monk Shinfu arrived at Osaka Castle with a peace envoy from the shogunate. Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who accompanied Monk Shinfu to Osaka Castle, conveyed to Ye Yuxuan, Xu Xinsu, and Li Chenfang the decision of the Great Imperial Palace and the shogun to stop the war.

Without waiting for the two colleagues to speak, Ye Yuxuan had already made a decision and said, "I have already felt the kindness of the two highnesses. We have also sent the opinion of the coalition forces to Naotaka-sama of Naoi in Nara, and we believe that the time has come for this war to come to an end.

The coalition forces now have an absolute advantage, and even Kyoto is within reach. If the shogunate army persisted, it would only increase the casualties, and it would not be able to change the balance of advantages in the battle.

However, the coalition deplored the lives of Japanese civilians and did not want them to die in a senseless war, so they conveyed our proposal to the shogunate through Naotaka Ii. We hope that the shogunate will surrender to the coalition forces, reply to the proclamations and ultimatums sent before the war, and compensate the coalition forces and merchants and citizens of various countries, and then the war will be over.

As for what you just said, the shogunate wants to make peace with the Ming Dynasty alone, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to agree. As for the two sides to negotiate a truce before the talks, this is obviously also impossible. In addition, whether His Royal Highness Toyotomi Chiyo is willing to see you or not depends on His Royal Highness Toyotomi Chiyo himself, and we cannot interfere with it. ”

For Ye Yuxuan's answer, Matsudaira Nobutsuna was extremely angry in his heart, but he still held back his temper and said to Xu Xinsu and Li Chenfang: "In this war, the shogunate is the victim, how can you ask the victim to compensate the perpetrator?" Is this the benevolence and righteousness that Confucius said? ”

Among the three, Li Chenfang's face was still thinner, and he simply turned his gaze to the tea cup in front of him, ignoring Matsudaira Nobutsuna's question.

Xu Xinsu forced himself to distinguish between them: "How can the shogunate be regarded as a victim, if it weren't for the persecution of our merchants in Nagasaki, how could we send troops to Japan?" ”

Matsudaira Nobutsuna immediately replied: "But hasn't the coalition army already broken through Nagasaki, and even the Takenaka Lady has been punished by your Ming Zhengcanon?" Isn't the wealth of Nagasaki, Osaka, and Sunfu enough to satisfy the coalition forces? Although the shogunate suffered some setbacks, it was far from the point of surrender, and the tens of thousands of banners in Edo were not comparable to those farmers. The coalition forces are so aggressive, aren't they worried about the shogunate's ruin? ”