Chapter 164: The End of Meritorious Deeds (I)

Regarding Wang Zhi, later generations were basically one-sided criticism in China, and he did gather coastal pirates, colluded with Japanese pirates, plundered the southeast coastal areas many times, and committed heinous crimes. However, it must be noted that the rise of Wang Zhi and the rest of the pirates was mostly due to the Ming court's implementation of the policy of banning the sea a few years ago, which greatly restricted the financial routes of the coastal wealthy merchants, and even threatened the survival of many people. When Xu Dong and another Min group were exterminated by the Ming court, he took advantage of the situation to integrate the pirates and became the leader of the entire Sī group. It can be said that in this regard, Wang Zhi and the Kyushu Ouchi family, the Otomo family and the Shimazu family did the same, and the later Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Chenggong father and son just followed his old path, but at that time it became Japan that closed the country, and Zheng Zhilong's activities were not only not suppressed, but had great interests in the coastal areas, so he was able to be recruited and assumed the important task of garrisoning coastal coastal defense.

The same was true in Japan, where he was purged in 1540 and moved his nest to Goto, Japan, and was welcomed by nearby daimyo and wealthy families (especially the Goto Uku) family because of his ability to bring a large number of Ming goods. In 2000 of my time, some Japanese businessmen in Fukue City, Nagasaki (the Ukudai family changed the Miao character to Goto in the Edo period and established the Fukue Domain) also came to Wang Zhi's hometown to erect a monument for him, which caused a great sensation in the entire Anhui Province. It's just that only five years later, the tombstone was smashed by two teachers at night......

I believe that with Wang Zhi's reputation in northern Kyushu, Futami Mitsunari will definitely know about him, and he must have investigated the entanglement between the Ukushi family and Wang Zhi, and now he is indignant in front of me, on the one hand, to gain my sympathy, and on the other hand, he confirms that there is nothing wrong with the Ukuya family and Wang Zhi's jiāo relationship.

"That's it," I thought for a moment, and then instructed Futami Hikari to do it, "Since the shogunate already knows about this and has summoned you to the Kanto Jiāo dynasty, you should first inform the shogunate of this situation and see how the princess and the elders decide." ”

"Yes," Erjian Guangcheng bowed down to receive the order, and there was a slight hint of disappointment in his tone, "Then your subordinates will retire first, and then come to greet the Taizheng Gong after they settle down." ”

I nodded, got up and left the main seat, and returned to the martial arts training ground where Naohu and Xia Jin were. At this point, Natsu was no longer there, only Naohu was waiting in the hallway, and she explained to me that Natsu had been playing for a while and was sweating a little, so she asked the shìnv to take her down to bathe and change her clothes.

"Yes." I nodded, and sat down beside Naohu in silence.

Zhihu soon noticed that my expression was a little heavy, so he asked with concern: "Your Highness, what happened?" Did you just meet with Lord Nimi, and learn that something was wrong with him? ”

"yes." I nodded, and briefly explained what Mitsunari had just reported.

Although Zhihu is the identity of the side room, he is also an important minister under my command, and he has always admired Han Feng, so there is no need to hide this from her, maybe with the help of her extraordinary insight and wisdom.

"I see," Naohu understood my thoughts, and then a new question came to him, "However, with His Highness's ability, he shouldn't be embarrassed about this matter, right?" Even if it is difficult to ascertain the facts for a while, His Highness can forcibly calm down the situation. On both sides of the debate, it goes without saying that even the Korean Sandao Naval Army had to restrain their attitude in front of His Royal Highness, who was the king of Japan in the Ming court. ”

"I can subdue them," I nodded, "and I can roughly guess the truth of the matter." This incident must have been provoked by Mitsunari Futami, except that he did think that he was right, and he did not want to take this opportunity to cause a dispute between the shogunate and Joseon...... In the event of a conflict between the two countries, his Tangjin Domain was the forefront of the conquest of Korea, and the Anlan fleet was the main force of the naval army. In this way, his own position in the shogunate will be greatly strengthened, and once he has made meritorious contributions to the Anlan fleet under his command, he will be able to gain more territory. ”

"Now that His Highness understands the situation, things should be easy to handle, right?" Zhihu asked strangely, "Judging by His Highness's meaning, he probably doesn't want to have a war with North Korea, so why don't His Highness just stop Lord Nimi?" ”

"Now I'm able to stop him. But what if I'm gone? Korea is not so easy to fight, behind Korea, is the incomparably huge Ming Kingdom," I sighed slightly, "So, I decided to let Kwangsei go to Kanto first, test the shogunate for me, and see how the shogunate and the daimyo choose...... If the shogunate and the daimyo can handle this matter properly, I don't need to worry about anything else; But if they're not that sane, I'll have to take action, to suppress the wind at its strongest. In this way, at least for the next few years, no one will talk about this matter again, and when the world is peaceful for a while, the shogunate, the daimyos, and the samurai will become accustomed to peaceful days, and they will not easily start to fight again. ”

“…… His Highness thought about it very far-reachingly," Zhihu pondered for a while, "It's just that if His Highness makes a move, I'm afraid that the prestige of the Gongfang Palace will be greatly hit." ”

"That's why I'm embarrassed," I closed my eyes slightly, and leaned sideways on the big tuǐ of Zhihu, "Don't say that Xinjing will have resistance, even myself, I don't want to go that far, think about it, in order to let him smoothly win the support of all the retainers and the great names, I don't know how many things I did to strengthen his reputation and maintain his majesty, and even did not hesitate to suppress Zhou Jing and Yijing, but now I want to destroy these ...... with my own hands"

"Maybe this is just His Highness's speculation, and the actual situation will be a little better, and it is not known if it will not go that far?" Zhihu had no choice but to comfort me.

"That's for the best, of course. However, this matter is too big, it is related to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and it is related to the future of the Ming court, the shogunate and Korea, if I really have to do that to stop it, I naturally can't have any hesitation," Speaking of this, I couldn't help but feel a little tired, so I completely closed my eyes, "Just think of it as the last big thing I did in my life"

……，……

Futami Mitsunari arrived in Kanto and quickly reported the dispute with the Korean naval army to Shinkyo, Zhu Dael, and Zhong Lao. In addition to the things he told me in Kyoto, he also revealed some of the movements in Korea, such as the fact that last year, the Great Sixian and the official Cao Jushu Li Er (belonging to the Shilin Xiren faction) proposed to strengthen the defense of more than 20 islands along the southern coast, but they were suppressed by the Right Governor and Bing Cao Jushu Liu Chenglong (belonging to the Shilin Dongren faction). It can be seen from this that Futami Mitsusei did a lot of homework in advance, and the reason why he provoked the North Korean naval army was precisely because he saw the opportunity of discord in the other side's center and lax coastal defense.

Not only that, but he even brought up what happened five years ago. At that time, not long after I established the shogunate, Li Er, who was then the right deputy commander, believed that the Northern Hu (Jin) was rising, the Southern Japanese (Japan) had been unified, and the Korean armament was lax, and it was difficult to resist either side, so he proposed to raise 100,000 troops to strengthen the defense of the northern and southern borders, but he was also vetoed by Yoo Sung-ryong and other ministers of the Shilin Dong faction.

If it is said that exploring the coastal defense of North Korea is a matter within the scope of Mitsusung Futami as the commander of the Anlan fleet, then paying attention to the central movements of the other side and paying attention to the strength of the other party's national defense force is beyond his purview, and I obviously underestimated his ambitions.

I suddenly regretted it, I was in Kyoto for a few days, and I should have asked Mitsunari Futami in more detail, presumably he didn't dare to make any reservations to me. However, now, the expected yào has become a fierce yào, and there is no point in mentioning it again, just to see how far this fierce yào power can catalyze the shogunate

As I expected, the shogunate got a report from Mitsunari Futami and immediately got up and running. Xinjing personally came forward and summoned all the elders, middle elders, and commissioners to discuss the collegiate discussion, and Sī Xia Li naturally discussed with the right pen; In accordance with my established policy, Xiujing strongly advocated calming the situation in the collegial discussion, so as not to cause a conflict between the two countries, and even lead to the Ming Dynasty behind North Korea, and bury the hard-won good state Jiāo and huge trade profits.

Hidekage's opinion was supported by the other two elder Ii Nobunao and Gamo Nobuhide, and Wasuka Keikatsu, the head of the five middle elders, and Asano Nagamasa, who was in charge of Kanai, also echoed Hidekage. However, Shinkyo was a general after all, and after he said that he would consider the matter more carefully, Takigawa Kazutada, the head of the Narita clan who succeeded Yorichen Ishitani, immediately expressed his opposition. One of them represents the Kanto Shinfu genealogy, and the other represents Oda's origins, and they can basically be said to be strong supporters of Shinkage, and the reason why they came to power in the first place was the compromise and balance reached between the Kanto and Kansai sides, as well as between the old and new genealogies. Among them, the head of the Narita clan is the maternal grandfather of the second son of Nobuyo Keizaburo Kira (Keitaro and Keishiro of the Kira family belong to the Kii Domain and Echizen Domain, respectively), and Takigawa Ichitada is the heir of Takigawa Kazuki, the great hero of the Kanto Expedition, and he is also the most capable of the second generation of the daimyo of the Zhuji Dynasty, and his identity and qualifications are sufficient, and I did not intervene.

As for the other remaining middle-aged and young Hayakawa Takakei, he knew that he could only be counted as half a generation, so he did not express any opinion. In this case, Xinjing could not convince any of the elders, nor did he get the support of more than half of the elders, according to the previous practice, he should give up his own ideas, but this time Xinjing seemed to be iron-hearted, and held several collegiate meetings in succession, and there was a great momentum of not giving up until the goal was achieved. In the face of such a resolute attitude of Shinkage, Kobayakawa Takakei first retreated, resigning from the position of middle elder on the grounds that he was old, overworked, and fearing that he would miss the shogunate's great policies, and recommended Yamauchi Kazutoyo of the Zhou Defense Domain to replace him, following the precedent of Ishiya Yorichen.

Yamauchi Ichitoyo worked for the Kira family for decades, and was a senior lineage of the clan, serving as the first jomachi governor of the family, and was the same as the late Shigeharu Takenaka. For this candidate with impeccable qualifications and prestige, whether it is Xinjing or the elders, the elders and the elders cannot disagree, and they are immediately determined. As far as Xiujing and others are concerned, this can be regarded as a sigh of relief, and they can use Yamauchi Kazutoyo's weight and influence on Xinjing to persuade Xinjing, even if Xinjing does not listen, as long as all the elders and more than half of the middle elders are unanimously opposed, they can completely veto his opinion in accordance with the laws of the shogunate; Xinjing knew that Yamauchi Kazutoyo would most likely not support this matter, so he also intensified his activities, contacting the Daimyo of the Kwantung region to put pressure on the table, wanting to take advantage of Yamauchi Kazutoyo's long distance and inability to take up his post in a short period of time, first reach a set decision to conquer the Korean naval army, and then take advantage of the situation to conquer Korea.

Although the territories of the Kanto daimyo were not many, their territories were close to the shogunate center, and many daily government affairs required their cooperation, and they had a certain influence on the center. The sons-in-law of these daimyos, most of whom are now serving as side servants around Shinkei, will naturally be inclined to him, especially Hirano Nagatai, who led the Musashi Province with 80,000 stones, he feels that he is brave and martial, and he is also the brother-in-law of the shogun, if he is given more opportunities, he can grow into a national daimyo like Ikeda Tsuneko did in the Oda family, so he tries his best to woo his colleagues between Oku and support Shinkei against the table.

Of course, as the advocate of this matter, Futami Guangcheng will not be idle, and every time he participates in the collegiate discussion, he will put forward some information to prove the weakness of the North Korean side. Even the Da Ming, which everyone was worried about, also expressed a certain degree of contempt, thinking that dozens of warriors of the Da Nei family could make a mess of the Daimyo's Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, and even hit the city of Nanjing for a time, which shows that the military strength of the Ming State is not very good. According to the intelligence of the Mufu group, he also reminded Xinjing very tactfully that as long as there is a war, then the general can jump off the constraints of the elders and the middle elders, and directly command hundreds of thousands of troops in the world; And once he, a general, conquered Korea, his exploits would go straight to Kyoto's Imperial Palace, Taisei, and even to the Empress Shengong, who conquered Silla more than a thousand years ago, and then he would be able to reappoint the elder and the middle elder with his prestige, and completely control the shogunate's great power.

Gradually, the rumors of the conquest spread in the Kanto region, and the daimyo of the Northeast also mixed in. Date Masamune, the current lord of the ambitious Date Domain, Nobunao Minami, the chief branch of the Southern Domain, Yoshishige Satake and Ashina Moriaki, who wanted to restore their former glory, and the small daimyo of the Iwaki Province who were dissatisfied with the size of their own domains, all expressed their willingness to participate in the expedition. Although they were the farthest away from Kyushu, the shogunate had a strong fleet in Notokoku, which could save them the trouble of running to the bō, or directly attack the east coast of the Korean Peninsula by fleet, which was much easier than attacking the Ryukyus.