Chapter 164: The End of Meritorious Deeds (Part II)

According to the laws of the shogunate, the daimyo of the Kanto and Tohoku prefectures built a feudal mansion under Edo Castle, and the feudal lord, heir, or retainer remained as a hostage, and on the other hand, they also led some samurai to serve the shogunate. This was a good way to ensure that the shogunate was bound to the daimyos, but in the case of the daimyos, it was more or less humiliating, so except for some small clans in the Kanto region that longed for the prosperity of Edo, few feudal lords from the northeastern foreign domains came in person. However, now, in order to support Shinkage, Date Masamune, Satake Yoshishige, and Ashina Moriaki have all arrived, and with Nanbu Shinao, who firmly controls the southern family, most of the powerful people in the entire Tohoku have gathered outside Edo Castle.

These people have a high status, so naturally they will not come lightly, and each of them has hundreds of jīng sharp warriors by their side. In particular, the Date family, due to its large territory and the high proportion of samurai in the family (the total population of the domain was 607 in the Kanbun period, 211 of whom belonged to the samurai family), and the number of people brought in was also very large, and the number of people who remained in the original domain reached 2,000 (the number of people left behind in the Edo period), which was enough to partially control the central situation.

Relying on the support of the daimyo of the Kanto and Tohoku daimyos, Shinkei became more and more confident, and not only crossed the elders, but directly transferred the four standing armies outside the city to the city, but also issued a confluence order to the other three standers. These three standing branches, currently known as the East Standing Guard, the West Standing Reserve, and the North Standing Reserve, respectively guard the three mén households in the Kanto region, and are under the command of Tokilu Satake Nobuhide, Sagami Miyata Miyata, and Ueno Shimazu Iehisa, and are not allowed to be transferred without the general's personal conscription. Therefore, when the three of them received Xinjing's order, they all felt very embarrassed, and they sent people to discuss with Xiujing; Hidekei couldn't, and he didn't want to openly disobey the shogun, so he had to prepare them to go, and at the same time send someone to Kyoto to report to me.

And around the same time, Yamauchi Kazutoyo's queue also arrived in Kyoto. He arranged for his entourage to be left behind by his younger brother, and then he couldn't wait to come to the Dongshan Imperial Palace to meet him.

"You must know about the Kanto region, right?" I asked him.

Yamauchi Kazutoyo nodded: "Actually, the dispute between His Royal Highness Futami and the Korean Navy is quite well-known in Kyushu. His Majesty has also heard some of them in Zhoufang, and now he is about to ask the Taizheng Gong to instruct him on the right time. ”

"Yes, then let's talk about your opinion first," I said slightly, "Also, how did the Kyushu feudal clans react to this matter?" ”

"His Majesty believed that in terms of military strength, it would not be difficult to conquer Korea, and that it was the attitude of the Ming Kingdom that he was concerned about; If the Ming supported Korea, the war might have been a bit bent, and the trade would have been greatly affected. The gains and losses depend on how the Taizheng Gong judges and chooses, and his subordinates have no disobedience...... As for the feudal domains of Kyushu, the security was given by the Gongfang Palace, and they also followed the Gongfang Palace to fight many times, and each time they could get rich rewards. In particular, Yoshioka Kaseko and Usuki-sho, who were in charge of the Otomo family, had participated in the conquest of the Ryukyus by Taisei Gong, so in addition to serving the Gongban Palace, they also agreed with the proposal to conquer Korea. Yamauchi Kazutoyo replied very frankly.

"I know a little bit about Yoshioka and Usuki's attitude. Some time ago, they sent someone to ask me to give Jingyi the command of the Fu Bō detachment. I sighed, it seems that I have to intervene, otherwise Xinjing may really send troops. Jīng Rui, who was directly under the Standing Guard, Jīng Liang who commanded the naval army, the daimyos' support and confidence in the Kira family, and my glorious record in conquering the Ryukyus, became Shinkage's helper at this time, helping him promote the decision to conquer Korea.

So I immediately instructed Yamauchi Ichitoyo: "Ichitoyo, you work hard, immediately take the Yongan to Kanto, and persuade the public to give up the conquest of the dynasty." In addition, I also told him and the elders that I would like to go out for a walk in the near future to meet some former ministers, and to stop by Edo to see him and his grandson Keijiro. ”

"Taizheng Gong wants to see the old ministers? Do you want to visit the Gongfang Hall and the young monarch? Yamauchi Kazutoyo hurriedly confirmed.

"Exactly," I nodded, "I hope that by the time I get to Edo, this matter has settled." ”

"Understood," Yamauchi Kazutoyo owed, "Since Taizheng Gong intends to go on patrol, he naturally can't be without his side." His Majesty then sent an order to Kang Feng and asked him to lead the feudal clans in Beijing to escort them along the way. ”

……，……

The next day, I conveyed the matter of the tour to Zhou Jing, Yijing, and Xiuxing in Beijing, and they understood that I wanted to put pressure on Xinjing, so they cooperated in sending their respective pen elders and some of the guards to follow; I didn't want to trouble him, but he took the initiative to join me with his guards, saying that he was bored in Kyoto and wanted to go to Edo to see his mother.

This is naturally a tacit excuse, which makes me feel very comforted. It seems that between Xinjing and me, he is still inclined to me, so he agreed to let him lead the troops with him.

The group soon left Kyoto and arrived in Ise via Minami-Omi, Kita-Omi, Mino, and Owari Shikoku, and after a day's stay at the former residence of Mie Castle, they traveled along the Tokaido to Kanto. At this time, the queue around me was already very large, and in addition to the people of the three families of the Imperial Mén family and the two Renzhi families of Seshu Noshu, as well as the Shubo Yamauchi family, the Mino Inaba family, the Owari Oda family, Ikoma and the Saji family, as well as the Nagano family and the Kuki family who had rushed to Mie Castle after hearing the news, there were more than 2,000 personal guard samurai, led by the elders of each family, the heirs, and even the heads of the families. Along with my route, the Mikawa Tokugawa family, the Minami Shinano Tsunei family, the Enshu family, the Suruga Honke family, and the Sagami-Miyata family joined the family, bringing the total number of samurai to more than 3,600 people, plus a Nishijo station.

When I arrived in Edo, Hideki had received news from Miyata Mitsuji in advance, and he was already waiting outside the town with Ii Nobunao, Gamo Nobuhide, and Wasuka Keikatsu, leading horses, to accompany me to Edo Castle. As the eldest elder and the chief lieutenant elder, they had a very high status in the shogunate, but now they all served as attendants, and this battle caused some sensation.

Even if it is Xinjing, it is not so easy to get the three elders and the chief middle elder to follow the shì. According to the laws of the shogunate, no matter what the circumstances, they must have one person left between the tables.

"The elder brother is good, and his subordinates are very pleased to see it." Xiujing's shoulders are a little rickety, but her waist is still straight, and her slightly puffy face blooms with a heartfelt smile.

"You're a little haggard," I said, looking at his face, at the prosperous streets on both sides of the main road and at the magnificent city at the end of the main road, and in a very emotional tone, "It's been a hard time for you these past few years...... Especially in the last month or two, Xinjing must have made you very embarrassed."

"The elder brother entrusted him with the important task of Yuan Fu, and his subordinates should do their best to repay him, but unfortunately his ability and knowledge are limited, and he can't completely share his brother's worries, and the result is still to disturb his brother's honor...... In short, now that my brother has come to Edo in person, the dispute between the shogunate will naturally be completely settled, and the ministers will finally be able to rest assured. Xiujing said on the horse.

"It's really going to have to be over," I nodded slightly, "Shinkei should know I'm coming to Edo, right?" How has he been doing lately? Are you still connecting with the Kanto and Tohoku domains? ”

"Gongfang Hall still adheres to his decision, but he has restrained himself in his actions, and he no longer reluctantly waits; In addition, the mood of the Gongfang Hall has been a little irritable recently, and the young monarch was occasionally playful two days ago, and he was immediately reprimanded for a long time...... As for the Kanto and Tohoku feudal domains, they were still not very peaceful, and there were always a large number of samurai who gathered in front of the mén of the town to petition, and there were even retainers of the Làng family who had lost their family business to take an oath and submit a letter by disembowelment, hoping to exchange the rank of their down-and-out family head and take advantage of the opportunity of the conquest of Korea to be rewarded for meritorious service. In the face of these winds, the ministers can only try their best to guide and appease, and do a good job in dealing with the aftermath. Xiujing replied that he was obviously troubled by this.

"Petition? Finger? Disembowel? I snorted coldly, "Are you so looking forward to fighting and dying?" It's unbelievable."

"My father didn't know that now that the world was at peace, the samurai families of the various domains were recuperating, and the family population had greatly increased, and many of the young sons and concubines of the feudal clans were unable to find a way out after serving in the Yuanfu, so they urgently needed to find a way out...... The situation of the Làng people was even worse, because there were enough warriors in each domain and the territory of the temples and shrines was limited, they did not have any opportunity to become a monk and become a monk, not only did they have no hope of recovering their family business, but it was also difficult for them to survive, and it is reasonable to have such a performance now. Kamo Xuanxiu, who was next to Xiujing, explained.

"Even then, it can't be solved by starting a war," I pointed to the bustling streets on both sides, "Actually, it is not difficult for people to make a living, there are so many houses in the town, and there are many opportunities for work, but they are not used to peacetime, and they are not willing to let go of their samurai status and illusions of restoring their family business." ”

"After all, it's a samurai, how can you give up your attachment so easily?" Jing Yixuan can understand them very well, "But my father is right, now that the Luàn world has ended, it is time for them to change their concepts." ”

After saying this, he sighed, and the rest of the people did not answer again, perhaps this topic is too heavy, and I have heard about the situation of the castle town office, and I have generally understood some of the thoughts of Nobuyo, in addition to his own desire to build meritorious deeds and seize real power, many daimyo also want to take the opportunity to expand the family business, or find a way out for the new samurai in the family; Then there are the làng warriors, who are also supporters of Xinjing, and they are very numerous and fanatical. Historically, when the Toyotomi clan and the Tokugawa clan fought against each other, although the world had been peaceful for more than a decade, and despite the fact that the opponent was the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled the world and was the leader of the samurai, there were still more than 100,000 làng samurai gathered in Osaka Castle.

However, waging war against foreign countries to open up living space and solve the problem of too many samurai and insufficient territory is already a misguided path, and it is also the source of militarism in later generations, and I naturally cannot tolerate it. What's more, the historical campaign of the dynasty, in addition to damaging the prestige of the Toyotomi regime, also consumed a lot of vitality of the Ming State, and was the most serious loss of manpower and material resources in the three major expeditions of Wanli at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In the winter, North Korea used troops, and in the first and last eight years, it cost more than 7 million yuan. In the twenty-seventh year, Banzhou used soldiers, and spent two or three million dollars. The three major levies are one after another, and the country is scarce. ”

Today's Kira shogunate, both in terms of force and prestige, is much stronger than the historical Toyotomi regime, if the Ming court wants to keep Korea, maintain its dignity and prestige, I am afraid that it will not only be "the first and last eight years, more than 7 million dollars", plus the end of the exploration trade, the loss of Japan's large amount of silver imports, it will be even more difficult to resist the double blow of internal difficulties and external disturbances.

As a member of the Chinese lineage, I naturally hope to stop the war between the Japanese and the Ming, maintain the trade between the two countries, and help the Ming to stabilize the southern economy, so that the imperial court does not have to levy and loot military funds, so that the peasant rebellion and the invasion of the northern barbarians will die. And these considerations, even the closest Zhihu and Xiujing, can not fully understand and understand, Xiujing only knows that I am like a god in the overall situation, will not make wrong judgments, and continue to support and follow; As for Naohu, he also completely trusts me, as a line in the game of the later generations says, "No matter what happens, the concubine will stand by His Highness's side"......

The main road gradually came to an end, and at the end of the Edo Castle Masa Mén Otebashi Bridge, the guards who were the forerunners also stopped, and each retreated to the side of the road, making way for the middle passage. I and all the elders, middle elders, daimyos, and daimyo heirs drove their war horses to the front of the queue, and saw a group of people already waiting at the head of the Otebashi, led by a four- or five-year-old child, wearing a dress embroidered with gold and five pieces of gentian - five or seven Tongjia patterns, perhaps the full set of dresses was too cumbersome, especially the kù feet dragged the long dress long skirt, the children were a little unaccustomed to it, and pulled the knee part of the long coat from time to time.

When Xiujing saw it, he immediately straightened his face and asked the samurai who was half-kneeling beside the child: "The Changzhong Imperial Palace is coming, why didn't the Gongfang Palace come in person?" Just let Shaojun come forward to greet you? ”

"Your Majesty Narita Nagataka, the current Imperial Side Appointment Appointment, meet the Great Imperial Palace" Narita Narita Changzhong bowed to me and saluted, and then bowed his head and replied to Xiujing's question, "Back to His Royal Highness, the Imperial Palace is unwell, so he didn't come, and I heard that the Imperial Palace wanted to visit the young monarch, so I ordered the young monarch to come out to greet him...... If there is anything inconsiderate, please forgive me."

"Not feeling well? How come I don't know," Xiujing snorted coldly, "Do you still want the Great Imperial Palace to visit the Gongfang Palace?" How unreasonable is that."

"It's okay, it's okay to have Keijiro out to greet you," I waved my hand to Xiujing, then jumped off the war horse and stepped forward to pick up Keijiro, "Changzhong, lead the way ahead, I'll go to visit the Gongfang Palace"