Japan, Edo Castle, Imperial House.

It was the place where the elders of the Tokugawa shogunate helped the shogun in handling government affairs, and it is now the de facto center of power in Japan. According to the regulations of the Tokugawa shogunate, there were generally four or five elders under the shogun, and the monthly system was used to manage different affairs in turn, and in principle, the daimyo of the pedigree were elected from among the daimyo who had a domain of more than 25,000 koku.

And now the five people who are the elders, they are the second-generation feudal lord of the Sagami Odawara Domain, and the grandson of the Kasuga Bureau, the founder of the shogun Oku. The first generation of the Sekisu clan family, the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada's small surname was born, and he was nearly seventy years old and could still see a little clear eyebrows and beautiful Hisashi Hiroyuki. The first generation of the Hitachi Tsuchiura Domain, starting with the three generations of shoguns Konnori, has been serving the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo for more than 50 years, and has not even visited his own territory much. The adopted son of the Kasuga Bureau and the surname of the family Tsuna, his father was martyred by seppuku when Iemitsu died, and he almost wrote his loyalty to the Tokugawa family on his face. The ancestors followed the Tokugawa (Matsudaira) family for generations, and they were also beautiful and beautiful, and they were very pleasing to the Tokugawa Gang, and they became the head of the small surname group in their twenties, and in their thirties, they became the lord of the Karatsu domain of the Hizen Kingdom, Okubo Tadashitomo.

These five old middle schools, plus one of the first "wise men" of the Tokugawa family, one of the three imperial families, and the great historian Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who made up the history of Japan, all gathered in the imperial department house and sighed.

It made the entire Edo Castle "Apparent Direction" (referring to the shogunate and the offices of the hundred officials) nervous. What's going on? Mito's Mito's Hikari didn't invent history at home, so why did he run to Edo Castle and sigh? It's scary!

Because according to the will of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Mito family has a very special power, that is, when the Tokugawa clan is extinct, it is responsible for selecting a "Tokugawa" from the Kishu Tokugawa family and the Owari Tokugawa family to join the successor clan, and become the governor of the Tokugawa clan and the shogun of Japan.

Is this the day. It's coming?

The mentally retarded and childless Tokugawa Shogun Ietsuna was terminally ill and dying?

This stupid prince is also a bitter fate, although he is a fourth-generation general born with a golden soup spoon, but he can't stand his stupid brain, he can't hold power at all, and his father's family is a puppet of the old middle school after his death, and he also has physical problems, and now he is almost forty years old, and he doesn't even have a son, and he seems to have been sick recently.

And as soon as he dies like this, the inheritance problem of the general's family will come!

Is this Tokugawa clan an heir?

Although Ietsuna has no hope of having a son, he also has a brother Matsudaira Tsunayoshi and a nephew Tokugawa Tsunayoshi who are still alive. Although Tsunayoshi received the surname Matsudaira and can no longer be regarded as a member of the Tokugawa clan, Tsunayoshi is a genuine Tokugawa! It's just that the head of the Kofu Domain, can he still be regarded as a member of the Tokugawa clan?

Shenjun Ieyasu doesn't seem to have made it clear!

If Tsunatoyo is counted as a member of the Tokugawa clan. So what is the Kofu Tokugawa family? They all have their own doors, can they still belong to the sect? There is no such rule in all of Japan!

If he can't be counted as a member of the Tokugawa clan, then will the people of the Kishu Tokugawa family and the Owari Tokugawa family be found by Tokugawa Mitsukuni to succeed him?

But can Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and the retainers of the Kofu Domain be satisfied with such an arrangement? It won't make a drama about the Koshu samurai sending troops to the Kanto region, right?

Looking at the sad faces of this group of old people, it must be uneven - these five old middle schools seem to know that they are not capable people, one is the grandson of the founder of Daao who pimped for the general's family, two are the "general's man" who climbed up with a small surname by virtue of his eyebrows and clear eyes, a "filial son" who came to power by his father's martyrdom for Jiaguanggong, and the other is an old immortal who has survived for more than 50 years by his seniority.

On this set of combinations, except for an old immortal and a big filial son, the others revolve around the general's life problems, none of them are fierce people, what Honda, Sakai, Iyin, and Sakakihara don't know where to go? If you really encounter any mess, how can you get it?

How many years has it been peaceful in this world? The Warring States period isn't going to come again, is it?

Outside the palace house, the big eyes and eyes of the directly subordinate elders all probed their heads and looked inside, and the faces of the little devils with roe heads and rats were full of anxious expressions.

And in the palace of the royal department, the voices of the old middle school gradually sounded.

Seventy or eighty years have passed, and how come the Koreans have not forgotten their old hatred of the Taeko Gong sending troops to attack them? He even demanded that the Tokugawa shogunate apologize and compensate Korea in the name of the Japanese king, and that he should also conduct deep introspection. It's so rude! These North Koreans are really unreasonable! ”

"It's not that the North Koreans are too rude at all, it's that the Chinese are too rude!" Now the country of North Korea has been controlled by Yang Qilong, a Qing man, and the Korean monarchs and ministers are all his puppets! And the shogun of the Ming Dynasty did not crusade against the Yang clan and restore the power of the king of Joseon, but instead aided the abuse, and wanted my Japanese country to bow down to the Yang prison of Korea and make amends, which is really rude to the extreme! ”

"It's this Lee shogunate that sent troops to the Ryukyus two or three years ago and took away the foreign vassal land of Japan. It's rude! With such a prison and general, how dare China call itself a state of etiquette? ”

"What state of etiquette? They haven't been for a long time. When the Mongols destroyed the Great Song Dynasty, the country of etiquette was my Japan! ”

Hearing that several old middle schools were talking nonsense there, the great historian Tokugawa Mitsukuni snorted heavily and slowly raised his head: "What are you talking nonsense?" What etiquette is not etiquette, this matter has nothing to do with etiquette, it is all interests!

Don't you understand? They didn't come to trouble Japan at all for the invasion of Korea seventy or eighty years ago, but for the shipping route to the New World!

The report of Nagasaki sent a while ago said that the Chinese had mastered the shipping route to the New World by hijacking the Spanish galleon fleet two years earlier, and had also taken the port of Acapulco through a despicable sneak attack! Japan, on the other hand, is on the way from Ryukyu and Korea to the New World. If the Ming or Qing Dynasty had taken control of one or two supply ports on our Japanese soil, their voyage to the New World would have been very easy! ”

The five Tokugawa elders had actually read the report sent by the Nagasaki Commissioner, but it did not mention Japan's pivotal position on the transpacific route. So when they heard Tokugawa Mitsukuni's words, they were all at a loss.

The old immortal Tsuchiya, who had served the Tokugawa shogunate for more than fifty years, stared at the head of the Mito family with a pair of dim old eyes, and asked, "Mito Yellow Gate, what is the basis for what you said about the fact that Japan is located on the road to the New World?" ”

"Tsuchiya Squire (Squire is an official position of Tsuchiya), have you forgotten what happened in the first year of Motohe?" Tokugawa Mitsukuni asked rhetorically.

"Yuan and the first year? Isn't that the Osaka Summer Formation? "As soon as the old man mentioned the Osaka Summer Array, he immediately came to his senses.

That was the last battle to end the troubled times!

Although he was not able to participate in the Osaka Summer Battle, he was born and knew something, what a nostalgic time!

"Your Highness Mito, why did you suddenly mention the Osaka Summer Formation? It's a pity that I was still a child at that time, and I didn't have a chance to go into battle to kill the enemy! "The old man with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes was already a young boy who was already a bright boy that year, and it was a pity that he didn't go into battle to compete with Sanada Yukimura!

However, Tokugawa Mitsukuni was speechless - just like this long-lived Mitsuyuki, going to the Osaka Summer Array is also a head!

He sighed: "There was another big event that happened during the Yuanhe period. It's the Date Maru sailing to New Spain! ”

What?

All five elders all showed wary expressions.

Date Maru? What does it have to do with Date Masamune, the ambitious one-eyed dragon? Could it be that the Date family has been secretly maintaining contact with Spain?

"Don't you all know about the Date Maru's voyage?" Tokugawa Mitsukuni looked at the five old middle schools in front of him, and his heart was half cold.

Such a big event almost changed the fortunes of Japan, and they didn't know it!

Of course, this Tokugawa Mitsukuni knew about the "Date Maru Incident" - he was the one who studied and invented history after all! He couldn't find historical materials for too old history, so he could only invent it. However, the history of the Tokugawa shogunate after its opening, there are archives that can be checked. Among them, the first year of Motohe is a "historical year", the Osaka Summer Array, the destruction of the Toyotomi family, Motowa Yanwu, etc., are all in this year, and the Date Maru incident also happened in this year!

Originally, Tokugawa Mitsukuni didn't pay much attention to it, but it wasn't until he saw Nagasaki's report on the capture of the port of Acapulco by the Ming Dynasty that he realized what Japan and the Tokugawa shogunate had lost in the "Date Maru Incident"?

Originally, Japan and the Tokugawa shogunate also had a chance to seize the port of Acapulco! As long as Shenjun Ieyasu is a little bit worse, to be honest, Shenjun Ieyasu is really bad, why didn't he think of a sneak attack on Acapulco Port? And how could that Chinese general Geng Juyi be so bold to not only sneak attack Acapulco, but also hijack the galleon fleet of the Spaniards!

But is this really what a man from the state of etiquette can do? Could it be that after they were ruled by the Manchurians, they forgot all about etiquette and shame?

It's so shameless!

Thinking of this, Tokugawa Mitsukuni could only sigh, and then told the five old middle schools in front of him the whole story of the "Date Maru Voyage to Acapulco" that happened that year.

After listening to this, these five old middle schools also looked incredulous.

After a while, Hatita Masatoshi, who almost wrote the word "Tada" on his face, reacted and said bitterly: "Ah, what a pity, if I were on the Date Maru, I would definitely risk my life to seize the port of Acapulco for the Tokugawa family!" ”

"Mito Daina, we now also have the opportunity to open up territory in the New World!" Speaking was Okubo Tadacho, the youngest of the elders, who said to Tokugawa Mitsukuni, "This morning I received another report from the Nagasaki Commission, saying that the Dutch were willing to send us charts to and from the New World, and to help us build up a navy in exchange for an alliance against the Ming Dynasty!" ”

"Nani?" Tokugawa Mitsukuni was stunned, "The Dutch want to form an alliance with us against the Ming Dynasty?" Are they crazy? Now that the Ming is so powerful, how do they want to fight against it? ”

Okubo Tadashi couldn't answer. Because the contents of this report are "meaningless" in his opinion, what does Japan want this chart for? What's the use of Japan wanting a navy? The ancestral family law of the Tokugawa shogunate was to close the country! There is no need to build a strong navy!

So he looked at it twice and felt that it was worthless, so he threw it to the big eyes below to pay for the archive - Okubo is the youngest, the shortest time to be an old man, and the least senior, so he is responsible for "working coolies" in the old middle school, and all kinds of messy reports are read by him first, and the more important ones are selected to be discussed and dealt with with by several other old middle schools. If it's not important, just criticize it casually and deal with the past and pull it down.

And the charts to the New World are certainly not important, not at all!

Thinking of this, Okubo Tadachao hurriedly said to a few big eyes who were probing their brains outside the imperial room: "Hurry up and bring the report of the Nagasaki Commission sent today!" ”

"Hay!"

Immediately, a big eye paid for it, and then ran out like a fly, and after a while, he entered the imperial department house with the report that was about to be archived, and handed it to Okubo Laochu with both hands.

Okubo Tadachao took the report, opened it and read it carefully, and then said to Tokugawa Mitsukuni with a surprised face: "Your Highness Mito, it turns out that Westerners are forming an alliance against the Ming Dynasty!" Spain, Portugal, England, the Netherlands, and Germany may also invite Daqing and Dazhou to participate! All countries unite to contain the Ming Dynasty. In exchange, the Netherlands is willing to help us develop our navy and trans-Pacific trade! and willing to persuade Spain to give us a colony of undeveloped coastal land in the New World."

"Curb the Ming together? Is it going to war with the Ming Dynasty? ”

"Can it work? Daming is still very strong! ”

"Yes, we are now about to start a war with the Qing Dynasty and North Korea, and then go against the Ming Dynasty, are there more enemies?"

"That's not right, if the Qing Dynasty also joins the anti-Ming Alliance, then we and the Qing Dynasty are friends, so why is there any need to fight? Daqing is going to the New World, we can provide convenience! ”

Tokugawa Mitsukuni frowned deeply, didn't say a word, and several old people couldn't discuss a reason, and finally looked at this "wise man" of the Tokugawa family, waiting for him to come up with an idea.

"It's not that simple!" Tokugawa Mitsukuni said, "Then the alliance has a leader, and it has followers. My Japan's current national strength cannot be the leader of the alliance, and all that can be done is to follow the leader of the anti-Ming Alliance, and now it seems that only the Qing Dynasty and the Netherlands are qualified to do it. If we Japan want to join them, we must choose one of them! ”

This "following" is a statement of high emotional intelligence, and the statement of low emotional intelligence is, of course, to "recognize the father"!

Now, of course, there is no "beautiful father" to be recognized by the Japanese, and the three "candidate fathers" can be selected: "Qing Dad", "Ming Dad" and "Dutch Foreign Dad".

"Your Highness Mito, let's follow Daming!" Okubo Tadashi said, "The Shogunate has always been pro-Ming, and the shogunate also used the seal of the Japanese king granted by the Ming Dynasty for diplomatic purposes. ”

In fact, the seal of the Japanese king was not given to the Tokugawa shogunate, but to the Muromachi shogunate, and was later "inherited" by the Tokugawa family.

"Your Highness Mito," said the clear-eyed old man Hisayo, "your teacher Zhu Shunshui is also in Nagasaki now, right?" Why don't you invite him to Edo? ”

Come to Edo. On behalf of the Ming Dynasty, the righteous son has been accepted!

Tokugawa Mitsukuni shook his head and said, "This is not good!" ”

"No way?"

"Why?"

"Your Highness Mito, hasn't the public always called himself the king of Japan?"

A few old middle schools really don't understand anything, not only do they not understand diplomacy, but they also don't understand the logic of Japan's "self-extinction of China" since the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

Tokugawa Mitsukuni looked at them and said solemnly: "Japan. No, and I don't want to be the second North Korea! Japan should become a divine continent like China! Therefore, since the Tang Dynasty, Japan has closed itself to the rest of the world whenever the world is unified, and cut off official exchanges with China as much as possible. Even during the reign of the Taira clan and the era of Liancang, Japan did not bother to establish official diplomatic relations with the Great Song Dynasty. And now, the Ming Dynasty is so strong that the sea ships can go straight to Edo. If we follow them again, then there is no doubt that sooner or later we will become a little China, like North Korea, instead of the Japanese Celestial Empire! ”

"Your Highness Mito, what's so bad about being Little China?"

Someone actually asked such a question!

Tokugawa Mitsukuni glared at the man, who turned out to be an "old white face" for a long time.

Guangguo said: "If you become Little China, then the samurai of the world will lose the power to dominate everything now, and if you become an ordinary countryman, you and other feudal lords will also lose your territory and become ordinary officials and nobles." You guys. Would you like to? ”

(End of chapter)