Kyoto, Nijo Imperial Palace.

Yang Chengying led his staff to sit on the west side of the palace, opposite Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of the shogunate.

Diagonally opposite is the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada.

This position can be described as painstaking.

If the shogun sits in the north and faces the south, Yang Cheng should do the south and face the north, no matter what kind of salute he does, it belongs to the great courtesy of the monarch and the ministers.

Yang Chengying naturally did not agree.

For he is not a messenger, but a local ruler with a strong army.

If the east and west sit opposite each other, Tokugawa Iemitsu, who is the current shogun, has reason to sit in the front.

Then Tokugawa Hidetada, who had abdicated into the Great Imperial Palace, sat in the back.

The son sits before the father, and what kind of body he becomes.

If Tokugawa Hidetada sits in the front and Iemitsu sits in the back, where is the authority of the shogun.

Therefore, Tokugawa Hidetada sat in an oblique position, faintly one step taller than Yang Chengying.

But he was facing the Tokugawa ministers, which was not offensive to Yang Chengying.

Tokugawa Iemitsu and Yang Chengying sat face-to-face and were the main negotiators.

So painstakingly, for no other reason, it all depends on strength!

The crowd enjoyed Noh as a seasoning before the talks.

Tokugawa Iemitsu, as the host, is well versed in the way of the Emperor, and his eyes only glanced at Sakai Tadakatsu.

Sakai Tadashi said: "The strategy of the Ming Kingdom, can you still be satisfied with the reception recently?" ”

Yang Chengying knew what he meant by this, and nodded in response: "Thanks to the Shogunate's hospitality, I feel good all the way." ”

"It can make your guests feel comfortable, and it is not in vain to prepare for so long."

Tokugawa Iemitsu took over the conversation, "Excuse me, where do you want to go after meeting with the princess?" ”

"The affairs in the territory are busy, and I can't stay for long."

Yang Chengying said: "After meeting with the general, I plan to lead the fleet to the Inland Sea, from the Tsushima Domain to the Li Dynasty, and then back to the Ming Dynasty. ”

The implication is that I am short on time and have something to say.

"That being the case, I have the courage to speak out about the consulate. After several old and middle school research, I feel that there is a lot of inappropriateness in this matter, and we cannot agree to it. ”

When talking about business, Sakai Tadashi is going into battle.

Yang Chengying bowed his head slowly, knowing that this thing was not easy to do.

The shogunate's sensitivity to power was still quite high.

From the Osaka Summer Battle in the first year of Motowa to the fifth national closure decree in the 16th year of Kanei.

The shogunate spent twenty-four years completely ruling the Wa Kingdom.

For such a long time, the shogunate used various means to infiltrate and control the feudal domains.

One of the reasons for the edict was that the southwestern feudal domains tended to be out of the shogunate's control by taking advantage of overseas trade.

If Yang Chengying set up a consulate in Edo, it would be tantamount to bringing this atmosphere to the core of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Anyone will instinctively refuse.

Yang Cheng should have been prepared for this, and he glanced at Zu Zehong.

Zu Zehong said: "You have doubts, we have some understanding. The establishment of a consulate is precisely to regulate the trade between the two sides, to avoid the occurrence of uncontrollable factors, including smuggling, and to coordinate and deal with them in a timely manner. ”

This sentence speaks to Tokugawa Iemitsu's heart.

His eyes lit up: "If the consulate itself is engaged in violations of the shogunate, how should this be handled?" ”

The underlying logic of this statement is no longer to oppose the establishment of a consulate, but to fear that the consulate will threaten his rule.

"Although we can't directly send troops in to arrest them, we can send envoys to Liaodong to discuss with me."

Yang Chengying said: "General, imagine that if there is no consulate, like the incident a few days ago, once or twice, three times or four times, do you have to send envoys to communicate with each other every time?" ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu and others were thoughtful.

"Besides, the last thing you have to worry about me doing is what I'm going to do."

Yang Chengying said: "Liaodong and your country are separated by the vast sea, this is one of them. Second, who will offend the customer. Offend the customer, who buys my cloth, and where do I import the food I need. ”

This is a half-truth.

Someday, there will be too much cloth for you to bear. If you take the initiative to stir up trouble again, then don't blame me for being unkind.

But in the context of the current situation, this statement is very pertinent.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was still hesitating.

Tokugawa Hidetada, who was the Great Imperial Palace, opened his mouth: "In exchange for the same price, I also hope to build a merchant house in you." ”

"Yes. Bac Ninh Province is located deep inland, which is not suitable for building commercial halls. ”

Yang Chengying readily agreed, "If you want, you can build a commercial hall in Jinzhou." There are large-scale textile workshops there, which can save a lot of travel. ”

Port Arthur is actually the most suitable as an ice-free port and a developed commercial area.

But when the Wa Kingdom Commercial Hall was built there, Yang Chengying felt very uncomfortable.

If nothing else, it's just uncomfortable.

Since Tokugawa Hidetada opened his mouth, Sakai Tadashi and other old middle schools are not good to object.

They all looked at Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Although Tokugawa Iemitsu was unhappy in his heart, he nodded in agreement.

He turned to Sakai Tadashi and said, "Who do you think is suitable to serve as the commissioner of the merchant hall?" ”

Tadashi Sakai replied, "Naobo-kun, it's the most suitable." ”

Naobo Imagawa put his hands on the ground and bowed quietly waiting for the shogun to speak.

Tokugawa Iemitsu did not immediately agree, but looked at his father, Tokugawa Hidetada.

"Jingluo, what do you think of Naofang-kun?"

Tokugawa Hidetada asked Yang Chengying, looking very steady.

After all, diplomacy is to "make friends", and there is no reason to arrange a person that the other party does not like.

Yang Chengying bowed slightly.

Tokugawa Hidetada stopped talking.

"Okay, Imagawa-kun, you will be appointed as the commissioner of the merchant hall."

Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at Naobo Imagawa.

"Yes."

Imagawa Naofang responded, straightened up again, and saluted Yang Chengying: "Jingluo, please give me more advice in the future." ”

Yang Chengying bowed slightly in response. Then he introduced to the Tokugawa father and son: "This is the consul of the consulate, Zu Zehong, please give me a lot of advice." ”

Zu Zehong clenched his fists.

Tokugawa Iemitsu bowed slightly.

The interests of the two sides in expanding "economic and trade exchanges" are identical.

So soon an agreement was reached.

However, on the issue of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the two sides were not so pleasant.

Sakai Tadakatsu said, "I heard that your side had a conflict with the Satsuma Domain in the Ryukyus, resulting in the capture of thousands of Satsuma Clans and heavy losses to the Mariners. ”

"It is true." Zu Zehong replied.

"The shogunate hopes that you will give a reasonable explanation, otherwise it will be difficult for the relationship between the two sides to continue."

Sakai Tadakatsu pretended to be angry and said.

Economic and trade negotiations come first, and territorial negotiations come later.

Through this incident, the idea of rectifying the Shimazu family has been revealed.

Shimazu Tadashi suddenly became nervous.

He thought that there was nothing wrong with him.

Yang Chengying saw the way out, regardless of the unequal identity, and responded: "Ryukyu is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and it has a history of hundreds of years.

As a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, I visited the lord of the Satsuma domain and passed by the Ryukyus. When he learned what was happening there, he became angry and clashed with the unwitting Satsuma samurai.

Although the two sides clashed, they quickly turned hostilities. ”

When he said this, Yang Chengying looked at Shimazu Tadashi and said with a smile: "This is all a misunderstanding!" ”