Tokugawa Iemitsu gently closed the gift list, and said with a warm smile, "The good intentions of your family's general soldiers, this general has received." The pen %fun %pavilion www.biquge.info bring a message to the general soldier of your family, just say that General Ben is very grateful for his gift! ”

Seeing that Tokugawa Iemitsu's attitude seemed to be very good, Fan Liang suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said, "The general's words must be truthfully reported to the chief soldier!" ”

"Hmm" Tokugawa Iemitsu gently closed his eyes and thought for a while, before he spoke, "General Ben has lived in Japan for a long time, and he doesn't know much about the situation in your Ming Kingdom, and he doesn't know anything about the situation of your general army, can the envoy explain my doubts?" ”

"The chief soldier of my family is the commander of the army appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the chief military officer of Shandong. There were more than 100,000 captives under his command. In April last year, the Central Plains rebels made a rebellion, and the general soldier was ordered to go to quell the rebellion, and the general soldier led 30,000 troops to annihilate the hundreds of thousands of Liukou coalition troops in one fell swoop, capturing the enemy's head alive, and shocking the world. He was specially promoted by His Majesty to the governor of the left capital, and the chief military officer of Shandong, leading a province in Shandong! ”

Hearing Tokugawa Iemitsu's inquiry, Fan Liang naturally wanted to brag about it, Fan Liang not only boasted about Liu Fan's past achievements, but also ambiguously hinted that Tokugawa Iemitsu had the final say in the whole of Shandong. Among them, his words can only be Tokugawa Iemitsu, who has never been out of Honshu Island, if it were placed in Nagasaki, maybe he would be pierced by someone who knows how to say it at a glance!

Perhaps he felt that Fan Liang's words were too exaggerated, but not only Tokugawa Iemitsu was full of disbelief after hearing it. Even the chamberlain beside him was very disdainful and questioned: "30,000 defeated more than 100,000 people? It's the funniest joke I've heard in years! Even if the messenger wants to boast, he must be in line with reality, how can people believe such absurd words? ”

Fan Liang's face sank, and he glared at him word by word and replied, "Just because I haven't heard it doesn't mean I haven't!" This matter is already known to women and children in my Ming Dynasty, is it necessary to coax you? If the Tokugawa shogun doesn't believe it, just find a Ming merchant to ask! ”

Seeing that Fan Liang's words were full of strong confidence, Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't help but believe that everything Fan Liang said might be true. 30,000 defeated more than 100,000 people, which shocked Tokugawa Iemitsu. Such a battle was almost on the same scale as the Battle of Sekigahara of the Tokugawa family. You must know that Tokugawa Iemitsu's grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa family, did not have an army of 60,000 or 70,000 in the Battle of Sekigahara, and most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled. Even now, the Tokugawa family controls most of Japan's power, and its army does not exceed 150,000 men. Liu Fan has an army of 100,000, isn't it about to be close to the strength of the Tokugawa family? Thinking of this, Tokugawa Iemitsu suddenly put away his contempt.

"General Ben never thought that your family's chief soldier would have such strength!" Tokugawa Iemitsu sighed, and then asked meaningfully, "I wonder what the envoy is doing when he comes to my Edo this time?" I'm afraid it's not just about giving gifts, right? ”

"The general is wise!" Fan Liang hurriedly said his intention: "This time, the junior general was ordered by the chief soldier to come to Edo Castle to discuss trade with the general!" We hope that the Admiral will agree to our Shandong fleet to do business in Japan. ”

"Oh?" Tokugawa Iemitsu squinted his eyes and asked, "Since you are in business, you can just go to Nagasaki and talk to the commissioner, why do you have to go to Edo without working tirelessly?" The purpose of the messenger is probably not just to do business! ”

"Nagasaki can't do it!" Fan Liang said without hesitation: "My family's general soldier has a noble status, controls a province in Shandong, has an army of more than 100,000, and nearly 10 million people (exaggeration), how can a small Nagasaki be regarded as equal?" Looking at Japan, only Shogun Tokugawa can treat my family as equals! ”

"Ridiculous!" Before Tokugawa Ieyasu could speak, the chief of the chamberlain, who was his loyal servant, immediately scolded loudly: "No matter how big your general army is, you are only a general of the Ming Kingdom, how can you compare with my master? For the sake of you being an envoy of the Ming Kingdom, the envoy will not bother with you, so retreat quickly! lest the master be angry, and your life will not be saved! ”

"How ridiculous?" Fan Liang asked rhetorically, neither humble nor arrogant: "Is General Dao Daochuan not a general?" As a general, my family's total army, population, and governance are not smaller than Tokugawa Shogun, right? After all, this world speaks by strength, and the strength of my family's general army is similar to that of Tokugawa Shogun, so why can't we look at each other on an equal footing? ”

"Uh" The waiter was suddenly choked by Fan Liang's series of questions, and was speechless. The current Japan is not the Japan of later generations, not to mention the strength of Japan under the notice of the shogunate, just talking about the land area, the current Japan is not much larger than Shandong. Even when the current shogunate was at its peak, its jurisdiction was limited to the three large islands of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku, and Hokkaido, the second largest island in Japan in later generations, was not yet Japanese territory.

Hokkaido was formerly known as Ezo Island or Ezo Land, and was inhabited by the Ainu people (also known as Ezo people). During the Han Dynasty in China, Hokkaido was under the jurisdiction of the Liaodong Prefectures. During the Tang Dynasty in China, Hokkaido was under the jurisdiction of the Andong Prefecture. At the height of the Ming Dynasty, Hokkaido was under the jurisdiction of the Nuer Gandu Division. Even now that the Ming Dynasty's national power has declined, Ezo Island has not yet been completely annexed by Japan. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that Japan completely annexed Ezo Island after more than 200 years of continuous erosion. Therefore, in terms of land area, Japan is not even as large as a province in the Ming Dynasty. Counting them up, Huguang, Shandong, Henan and other provinces are not much smaller than Japan.

Tokugawa Iemitsu also knows his own situation, and judging from the actual situation, as Fan Liang said, Liu Fan's strength is not smaller than him at all. It is really calculated that the Broken Army is backed by the towering tree of the Ming Dynasty, which is a few points stronger than Japan, which is small and has a small population. Although he was reluctant to admit it, Tokugawa Iemitsu also had to accept this cruel truth. After a long silence, Tokugawa Iemitsu spoke, "The envoy is right, your commander-in-chief is indeed on an equal footing with this general. However, this does not mean that General Ben will be afraid of you, and it does not mean that General Ben will agree to your request for trade! Come on, send General Fan back to the post house to rest! ”

Seeing that Tokugawa Iemitsu seemed to be a little annoyed and angry, and even directly ordered the expulsion, Fan Liang was in a hurry, and hurriedly said, "Wait, since we have come, why didn't General Tokugawa wait for us to finish speaking?" Could it be that the Tokugawa Shogun's family, which everyone in Japan praises, is so stingy? ”

"Oh?" Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at Fan Liang with a little playfulness and said, "Since you have said so, then General Ben will give you a chance to see if you have the ability to make General Ben change his mind!" (To be continued.) )