At the same time, Tokugawa Ieyasu lived in Sunpu Castle, which controlled the affairs of the shogunate behind the scenes. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The envoy sent by Chen Jian had been waiting for a long time, and Chen Jian immediately sent an envoy here after the Battle of the Ryukyus, so the news of the Battle of the Ryukyus spread earlier than it came here from the Shimazu family.

The envoy knew very well that the diplomatic representations written by Chen Jian were very polite, and he also knew that this time his life and death were uncertain, but he was not afraid.

On the contrary, there was some faint excitement. In Wangbeicheng, these people read a lot of books bought in the Ming Dynasty, and these envoys had already prepared drafts of various situations on the ship, and even deliberately followed those few people who could speak Japanese to learn a few words such as: The eldest husband should be a five-ding food in life, and a five-ding cook in death, and I would like to ask for a wok.

It's not the first time these people have come to Sunpu Castle, the last time they came to Sunpu Castle, Sunpu Castle had just caught fire, and now it has been rebuilt.

After handing over the article written by Chen Jian, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not show up, nor did he say anything else, but asked someone to arrange the diet of these people. There are samurai guards outside, which is considered a disguised house arrest, but these envoys are not afraid.

After the First Battle of the Ryukyus, the envoys were quite confident, saying that there was a motherland with a population of more than 30 million behind them, so they had nothing to fear.

Except that they couldn't leave, everything went on as usual, and the messengers didn't know what the other meant.

After about half a month, someone came to these messengers and brought a simple map of the world, and the text on it should be Dutch.

The people who came were polite, and asked some strange questions, and the messenger answered them one by one.

It was nothing more than asking where Spain's colonies were, how long it would take to cross the so-called Pacific Ocean, where your country was, what its relationship was with Spain, and so on.

The people who came asked them again how the trade was going in the Spanish colonies. The envoy actually didn't know exactly, but he had heard Chen Jian talk about it, and when Chen Jian said it, he always liked to let people know it and know why it was, so it was hard to forget.

The envoy said that the Spanish colonies were all monopolized by the Spanish royal family, and that the royal family received a lot of money every year, which could support all kinds of wars in Europe. It's hard for outsiders to get involved in trade.

After thanking them, they asked them if they knew the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism, and the contradictions between the Dutch and the Spaniards.

The envoys were very familiar with this, and they played in The Hague and Amsterdam for more than half a year, and basically knew some about the grievances and hatreds, so they told them one by one.

The people who came later brought the flintlock pistols that these men had brought when they landed, and let them demonstrate it, and see the effect of armor-piercing.

When the messengers wanted to ask what the man was going to do with them, the man bowed and left. Once again, the messengers were in an endless wait.

The torture of waiting was a bit boring, so I took the opportunity to learn some Japanese, and sometimes I was allowed to go out for a walk.

About a month after such a day, two more people came to visit, apparently also deliberately arranged by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

One was Juan Rodriguez, a Jesuit priest, and the other was said to be Dutch, but in fact British, because Britain did not have Adams, who was known in the Netherlands in Japan at this time.

There were also some Japanese who accompanied these two people here, and the envoys probably also knocked on the side of some things, so they picked up some things that could be said.

From the island of the goddess to the Hague, I told all kinds of things one by one, and there were basically no loopholes. Adams, however, inquired about the British and the British when he went to work for the Dutch Indian Company, and there was still a war between the British and the Spanish. It can be seen that this person has nostalgia, but unfortunately he can't go back for the time being. Moreover, in Europe, they are only the sailors and employees of Indian companies, but here they are quite favored.

After several such strange side knocks, the envoys finally waited for Tokugawa Ieyasu's reception.

The envoys estimated that the exact news of the Battle of the Ryukyus had reached this side at this time, and many things had basically been clarified, and it was time to settle them.

After meeting according to normal etiquette, to the surprise of the envoys, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not first inquire about the Battle of the Ryukyus.

Instead, he took out the map with letters and asked, "As you say, your country can be reached twenty thousand miles west by sea from here?" ”

"Exactly, just north of the Spanish colony."

"So, it's easier to sail from Edo?"

"Yes."

"The last time you came, I said that I would send men with your fleet to your country, what was your governor's reply?"

"The Governor said that trade relations and non-aggression friendly relations with you were welcome. And when you return, you can take with you the messenger you have sent. ”

"What goods are you not allowed to sell in foreign trade?"

"Basically, no. As long as there is silver and gold, anything can be bought. ”

"Including this iron cannon that doesn't use an arquebus and a large barrel that can smash the city walls?"

"Yes."

"In the past, Wu Hook was sharp, and King Wu killed Ou Yezi for the sake of the soldiers. Why are you willing to sell this weapon? ”

"Gold and silver. Moreover, there are tens of millions of people in our country, and there are 100,000 soldiers with guns. Although it is impossible to go to 10,000 miles to conquer in the turbulent sea, there are no foreign enemy soldiers who can land on our territory within 80,000 miles of the whole world. What is there to fear? ”

The envoy replied like this, but thought to himself: There are actually many things that cannot be exported, such as the regulations prohibiting the export of machinery signed before coming, but you may not understand it, and there is no need to say more. Anyway, Mr. Chen also said before he came, we have to reassure these people and not let them think that we will make fears about attacking other countries.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu heard this, he asked, "Last time you said that those Spaniards could conquer a million countries with a few hundred men, what was the matter?" ”

"The land of a million is only slash-and-burn, and does not use copper, iron, bows and arrows. After the conquest, he exterminated the priests of his country and forced his people to believe in God. If the whole country of Japan believes in God, then who is closer to the believers, the shogun or the pope? ”

Tokugawa Ieyasu was silent, knowing that these people were deliberately slandering Spain and Portugal for trade or profit, but these words had to be guarded against.

He was personally quite wary of Catholicism, and the name of the little Nishiyuki who was easily killed a few years ago was John, and some of the daimyo or samurai in the east that he was very worried about also had a lot of Catholics, so he really had to be vigilant.

Even if these envoys are not here to add fuel to the fire, he knows the dangers. He was very worried that when he cleaned up Toyotomi's house in the future, a group of ronin who carried the crusader banner and had the courage of martyrdom fought him to the end.

But now he still hasn't completely controlled the situation, just a few years after the Battle of Sekigahara, the Toyotomi family is still struggling, and he doesn't know how much appeal these people still have.

At this time, it is impossible to make some big moves, and it is even more unwise to cut off trade lockdowns at this time.

When these envoys arrived at Sunpu Castle two months ago with the situation of the Battle of the Ryukyus, Tokugawa Ieyasu's excitement about the rebuilding of Sunfu Castle suddenly disappeared.

Seeing the document that was not very politely worded, he was extremely angry, but when he saw the battle results and casualties ratio and some battle formation diagrams hand-drawn by Chen Jian, he immediately put back that anger.

The Shimazu family was still on the opposite side a few years ago, and if it weren't for some things, they would have cleaned him up after the Battle of Sekigahara.

In the case of the invasion of the Ryukyus, the original intention of the Tokugawa was to conduct legal trade with the Ming Dynasty by controlling the Ryukyus. For this reason, he also sent people to North Korea to find a way to repair relations with North Korea, hoping that North Korea would help convey it on his behalf.

However, he also knew in his heart that it would be difficult. The feud between Korea and Japan was not so easy to let go, and the Ming Dynasty's wariness of Japan made the possibility of such a thing illusory.

It is impossible to cut off trade, he himself has earned a lot of wealth from trade, and it is impossible for him to bear to cut off trade with the Ming Dynasty no matter what.

It's just that what these messengers said is true or false is not yet certain, and he can't decide for a while. After sending his diplomatic advisers and the Dutch to inquire about the origin of these people, and then waiting for the news of the Shimazu family to arrive, Tokugawa Ieyasu was finally convinced that what happened in the Ryukyus was true.

Nine times out of ten, it's not just the incident itself, but also the horrific casualty battle. Hisakama must have been captured, and the rest of the diplomatic documents that said they were killed in battle were really dead, and the battle lasted only half an hour, which is really a bit incredible.

After confirming this news, Tokugawa Ieyasu was not thinking about the Ryukyus or trade with the Ming Dynasty, but about the growing power of the daimyo in the southeast.

Inevitably, the Hirado area was surrounded by Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch, and now with the addition of this group of people known as Bactria . These advanced firearms will continue to be passed on, and Tokugawa Ieyasu can even imagine that the Shimazu family will definitely find a way to get these new iron cannon imitations as soon as they know about the situation of the Battle of the Ryukyus.

Originally, Satsuma's firearms level was already very high, and Tokugawa Ieyasu didn't want to see the Satsuma clan soldiers with tens of thousands of flintlock muskets in a few years: the nearly one-to-ten casualty ratio made Tokugawa Ieyasu unimaginable.

Originally, he wanted to send people to trade directly with the Spanish colonial satrapies, because those satrapies could be reached across the Pacific Ocean to the west of Japan, so as to avoid the southeastern daimyo from growing through trade.

But after hearing these envoys talk about Spain's monopoly on trade and a drill of firearms for the new era of the Battle of the Ryukyus, Tokugawa Ieyasu changed his mind.

The Spaniards were Catholic, and he no longer liked them; The Spanish firearms were obviously inferior to those of the Great Xia Kingdom, who were more enthusiastic about trade and did not need to go around to Hirado to trade.

In that case, why can't we establish direct trade relations with these people? If these people could build a merchant house near their own Edo, it would kill two birds with one stone.