"I don't think that the Ming Dynasty is just here for the market, we should gather the soldiers and horses guarded by various countries and wait to prepare for war!"

"That's right! There is no need for 20,000 people in the city, Daming must have come with the strength of the whole country, and the purpose is the same as that of Yuan Kou back then! ”

"We must be fully prepared, in case they land in Wakasa Bay, then the soldiers and horses that Kyoto can mobilize will not be able to stop them."

"Impossible, there is no need for the Ming to invade, and they are separated from us by North Korea, and the cost of sending troops is too great."

"If the Ming really just wants to open a long-term market, then this is an opportunity for us, and twenty survey qualifications will allow us to further control more feudal lords."

"You Settsu (Osaka) are doing business, and your brains are all copper coins? Now is the time of national crisis! ”

"It's you who are worrying about nothing, if the market is successful, the whole country will benefit!"

Inside the Golden Pavilion, when the noise sounded in the hall covered with gold leaf, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sat on the tatami mat with a green pattern, watching the crowd with great interest, not interrupting their thoughts at all.

The noise continued for half an hour before it gradually stopped, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also said after they were completely silent: "Are you all done?" ”

Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu set his eyes on Ashikaga Yoshinor, who was holding the position of general at the moment.

Ashikaga Yoshinori was the eldest son of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and since neither the main or the stepfamily gave birth to a son, he made Ashikaga Yoshinori his heir and let the stepfamily adopt him as an adopted son.

Seven years ago, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gave up the position of shogun to him at the age of nine, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was transferred to the post of Taisei minister, still holding the real power of the shogunate, and Ashikaga Yoshinori did not participate in government affairs.

It turns out that even fathers and sons can have conflicts in the face of power, and the same goes for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Ashikaga Yoshimori.

As Ashikaga Yoshinori grew, the sixteen-year-old now has his own ideas and feels threatened by his younger brother.

Compared with himself, his father doted on his younger brother Yoshiji more, so the relationship between the two brothers was not good.

In the long-term brotherly relationship, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's preference made Ashikaga Yoshinori gradually dissatisfied with his father, and Ashikaga Yoshinori often opposed his father's political views.

As now, he clearly knew that his father was eager for the support and approval of the Ming Dynasty, but he did not think that trading with the Ming Dynasty would allow the shogunate to directly gain too many benefits.

"Yoshichi, do you think we should accept Daming's request for a market?"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu looked at this child who was growing up, but he never got along with him, and asked for his opinion.

"Hui Taizheng ......" Sixteen-year-old Ashikaga Yoshinori bowed respectfully, and then said:

"Trade with the Ming Dynasty can indeed increase our fiscal revenue by a considerable amount, but at the moment our income comes from three major taxes."

"In addition, we are subject to the guardian daimyo in the local area, so after the Ming Dynasty established the City Ship Division in Hidden Tsuki and Sado, we could not directly intervene in the "City Ship Exploration Trade" and make a direct profit, except for the amount of rent that cannot be determined, so we could only send the "Survey" to the Kansai Guardian Daimyo who was close to the Ming Dynasty and Korea. ”

"In this way, as long as the Kansai Guardian Daimyo has a Exploration Charm, they will be able to make money from the Exploration Trade on their own, and we can only get a commission from the trade profits of the Kansai Guardian Daimyo."

"In this way, the profits in the exploration trade will be monopolized by the powerful guardian daimyo of Kansai, and our profits will be very limited."

"This kind of exploration trade will not only weaken our strength, but we will also bear the infamy of "two ministers and thieves" for this. ”

"Therefore, I think that this kind of trade will do more harm than good to us!"

Although Ashikaga Yoshinori was only sixteen years old, his analysis was not bad, and he was able to see the benefits of the Kankai trade, which won him the approval of a large number of nobles who opposed the Ming Dynasty's intervention in Japan.

It's just that his concept is not correct for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, because in Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's view, if the shogunate cannot obtain benefits from the Ming Dynasty from Hidden Ignition and Sado Island, it is completely possible for the Ming to open a city port division in some areas under the control of the shogunate, instead of refusing the Ming city port to enter Japan.

"We can open one of the seven islands of Izu to Daming, so that the Kanto region can make a profit."

"No, the sulfur output of Izu Shichishima is not low, this is one of the few goods that we can make money from the Ming Dynasty, and we can't let them control this place."

"That's right, the brimstone must be held in your hands!"

When a nobleman opened his mouth and wanted to set up a place in the seven islands of Izu for the Ming Dynasty to open a city, he was immediately opposed by everyone.

Sulfur is one of the few commodities that can produce a trade surplus in Japan's trade with the Ming Dynasty, because Japan is an island country and there are many volcanoes, so the domestic sulfur price is about six wen per catty.

If such cheap sulfur is sold to the Jiangnan area of the Ming Dynasty, it can be sold for hundreds of Wen, even if the Ming Dynasty is ready to open a market in Japan, but the purchase price of the Japanese sulfur still reaches 70 Wen.

In this case, it is definitely a foolish idea to choose one of the seven islands of Izu to set up a city division for the Ming Dynasty, and if the Ming Dynasty further controls the seven islands of Izu in the future, the price of sulfur will definitely fall.

"How can this ......" Ashikaga Yoshimitsu saw that the ministers could not get a result after arguing for a long time, and the Kanto region was indeed closely related to Japan's sulfur commodities, so he could not give up the island to Daming to open a city, so he was ready to change his thinking.

"There are no suitable islands in the Kanto region, so according to Daming's idea, give up Hidden Qi and Sado, and Daming can also collect taxes on the island, but half of the tax needs to be handed over to us and the Kyogoku clan for distribution, and the soldiers and horses they are stationed must be limited."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's idea is very simple, anyway, the hidden ambiguity is the place of the Kyogoku clan, although they have never managed there, but it doesn't hurt to give them a little benefit.

As for the sea trade, it was originally a trade monopolized by the merchants of Kansai and Kyushu, and now that the Ming Dynasty has come to Oki and Sado, the shogunate can also organize government trade to trade with them profitably.

In addition, the Ming also promised to teach them a smelting technique that would make silver and copper mines more productive, which was definitely a condition for the Eiri shogunate and most of the country's mines to guard.

Sado and Oki Island are of little value, and if they can be used to benefit the shogunate, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

The only thing that needs to be paid attention to is the number of Ming troops stationed.

In the letter of state, the Ming Dynasty hoped to garrison 3,000 people in Hidden Qi and 2,000 in Sado.

That's 5,000 people, which is already a lot of force.

For the sake of the safety of Kyoto, it must be reduced as appropriate, preferably within 3,000 people.

"This ......"

In the face of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's idea, in fact, the nobles did not agree, because they knew that as long as the Ming Dynasty was allowed to gain a foothold in Akiki and Sado, then Japan would always be one more threat, and although the land of Akiki and Sado was barren and could not support the garrison, they were still vigilant.

However, they also knew very well that the reason why Ashikaga Yoshimitsu put forward such a condition was because he was too eager to gain a sense of recognition from the Ming Dynasty.

As long as he joined the tributary trade of the Ming Dynasty, the Ashikaga shogunate also gained the status of being recognized by the nations, not to mention that he was called the king of Japan in the Ming dynasty.

With the support of the Ming Dynasty and the tributary powers, he was able to take his plans one step further and establish the Ashikaga clan as the new emperor.

His ambition is already known to everyone in Sima Zhao's heart, after all, as early as seven years ago, he asked his son, Ashikaga Yoshiji, who had already been scheduled to become a monk, to return to the world, and planned the "Tong Dianshang".

The so-called "Tong Dian" is to let the children of the underage ministers go to the court to serve the emperor, and this time the protagonist is Ashikaga Yoshiji.

Under the operation of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu continued to ascend to the throne, and finally held a coming-of-age ceremony in the palace with the gift of the prince, and then crowned as a member of the three senators.

In less than two months, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu successfully ranked among the top ranks of the public family.

Seven years have passed now, but it is said that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu intends to make Ashikaga Yoshitsugu the adopted son of Prince Sadasei.

If this thing really succeeds, then he can force Emperor Go-Komatsu to abdicate the throne, so that Ashikaga Yoshitsugu will become the future emperor.

His ambition had already been guessed by many, so many of the guardians and nobles did not want him to succeed.

It's just that now Ashikaga Yoshimitsu seems to want to use the recognition of the Ming Dynasty and the interests of the Ming City Shipping Trade to Kansai, Kyushu and other places to stabilize his position.

In the face of the emperor and his own interests, how to choose the Kansai and other local guardian associations has made many people worried.

"I've already written the letter of state, and now I can send it back to Chikuzen, but before that, I need to take back the Hidden Islands from the Kyogoku family to see if the Kyogoku family is willing."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu actually had his own ideas for a long time, and asking the nobles and retainers was nothing more than testing whether their minds were biased towards the emperor or themselves.

Now that he has tried it out, he can start cleaning it up slowly in the future.

What he wants to do now is to promote the Ming Dynasty's trade with the Japanese market, and at the same time obtain the recognition of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the more the Ming invested in the shogunate, the less he wanted the emperor to take the throne, which was very much in line with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's thoughts.

"Yes!"

Seeing that they had fallen into a trap, the nobles looked a little anxious, and they could be sure that the guardians of Kansai would not refuse this great gift from the sky.

Of course, they accept it on the premise that they must obtain a Compendium to be able to participate in the Exploration Trade.

Soon, Fukuoka Nobuyoshi, who had been waiting for a long time, got the letter written by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also sent 200 cavalry to follow him south, preparing to go all the way south to inform the Kansai Prefecture Guard, and let the Kyogoku clan transfer the Akiki family living on the Hidden Islands.

The population of the Hidden Families living on the islands is only two or three thousand, and it is a problem to mobilize 400 people at full capacity.

As long as you give them some small benefits, it is not difficult to get them to move.

At the behest of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Fukuoka Nobuyoshi soon began to travel south with the samurai of the Ashikaga family, and along the way, he informed the news that the Ming Dynasty would open a city trade in Oki and Sado.

Regarding the opening of the market trade in the Ming Dynasty in Hidden Ki and Sado, even the Kansai guardians, who were generally supportive, actually held their own opinions.

After all, there are not many families in these two trading places, and there are only twenty of them.

If they wanted to get the Akagyo, they would have to get in touch with the Ashikaga shogunate, which many of them were unwilling to do.

Compared to them, the Kyogoku Gaoguang, the head of the Kyogoku family, quickly accepted the conditions of the shogunate.

Although the Oki Islands are volcanic archipelagos, they are not rich in sulfur, and since the local land is not suitable for farming, it is isolated from the island of Honshu, and its development has been relatively slow, so it is unlikely that it will have any impact on the overall situation of Honshu, but the situation in Izumo has a great impact on the region.

Once the Ming Dynasty set up a city division in the Hidden Islands, the food, water, and vegetables needed by the Ming garrison would inevitably have to be obtained from the nearest Izumo country, and the Kyogoku family was the guardian of the Izumo country.

With this alone, the Kyogoku family will be able to make a lot of profits, not to mention that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has promised to give them the Charm of Survey, and the island's tax revenue will be paid to the Kyogoku family.

For the Jingji family, which has a population of less than 200,000 and a tax of less than 130,000 stones, as long as the Ming Dynasty's Shibo Division succeeds in landing in the hidden ambiguity, then the Jinggoku family's tax revenue can at least double, and it is impossible for them to refuse.

Seeing that the Kyogoku family agreed and began to move the more than 3,000 people on the Hidden Islands, the guards in Kansai and other places could only admit this fact.

However, in front of them, there is also the issue of the issuance of the survey charm, but this is not in Zheng He's consideration.

On the fifth day of the sixth month, after waiting for more than half a month, Zheng He finally got Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's credentials.

[His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty ...... in the Daoyi Letter of the Japanese Quasi-Sanhou Yuan]

"This Ashikaga Yoshimitsu actually claims to be the third queen of Japan, it seems that the news given by His Royal Highness is really right, he really wants to be the king of Japan."

On Nenggu Island, standing on the dock that had just been repaired, Zheng He laughed and teased Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and Yang Zhan, Yang Yu and others behind him also chuckled.

"Fortunately, he agreed to give us the Hidden Ambiguity and Treasure Island, so that the task assigned by His Highness will be completed, the only problem is that they are a little greedy."

Zheng He set his sights on the conditions under which Ashikaga Yoshimitsu wanted Sado and concealed business taxes.

If according to the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty's ten taxes and one one, then the annual trade between Hidden Ambiguity and Sado can collect at least 200,000 yuan in taxes on trade with Japan, or even more.

If half is divided, it will be at least 100,000 guan, which is much higher than the 30,000 guan mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu.

Judging from Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's appetite, just 30,000 kan will definitely not satisfy him, but 100,000 kan will definitely not be given, so he can only compromise.

"It's our question how much to collect taxes, and when the time comes, it will be enough to give them forty or fifty thousand yuan under fixed control."

Zheng He compromised his highness and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu on his terms, because he did not want to destroy the market opportunity that had just been promoted.

Anyway, they will do the accounts, and when the time comes, they will give the shogunate an extra 10,000 or 20,000 yuan a year, and the city office that has obtained the right to tax will not lose money.

"When are we leaving?"

Yang Zhan stepped forward to ask, and Zheng He also looked to the north when he heard this: "Tomorrow we will set off from Yinqi, according to the content of the Ashikaga shogunate's national letter, I am afraid they have already sent envoys to wait for us in Yinqi." ”

"Good!" Hearing this, Yang Zhan began to order preparations for the draw, and at the same time asked Huang Wei to go to Fukuoka to inform Shao Er Zhenlai of the news of the deployment of the fleet.

Shao Erzhen Lai had long known that there would be such a day, so he took this opportunity to finally present 500 stone of grain and 10,000 catties of vegetables to the fleet.

After all, in the future, the city of Nenggu Island will be an important pillar of the Shaoer clan, and currying favor with the Ming Dynasty is an extremely important political task for him.

Of course, Zheng He did not take advantage of him, but asked people to give him a pair of blue and white porcelain vases.

The value of this pair of blue and white porcelain vases alone is enough for him to raise hundreds of more foot lights.

On the sixth day of June, the Lower Oriental Fleet sailed out of Hakata Bay and headed for the northeast of the Hidden Gap.

They didn't dock at Izumo, which was closer to them, to avoid complications, so when they appeared on the southwest side of the Oki Islands, the samurai on the observation deck immediately sounded the alarm.

"Bell... Clang... Bell ......"

The small bronze bell was not loud, but alarming enough.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's younger brother Ashikaga Mitsutsu and Kyogoku Takamitsu, the head of the Kyogoku family, had already set up a temporary tent to receive Zheng He on the island of Hidden Differences, and had people prepare a state banquet for the Japanese nobles.

They had fantasized about seeing the Oriental Fleet with their own eyes, but in their worldview, the so-called huge fleet should be just a ship composed of hundreds of four or five hundred warships, and the 20,000 soldiers and horses that the Shao Er clan called were just an exaggeration.

Therefore, in the face of the arrival of the Lower East, they were well prepared and very calm.

It's just that when the Oriental Fleet really approached the island of Hikigo, everyone couldn't help but get nervous and breathe heavily.

Hundreds of large ships of more than 3,000 materials entered the waters of the Hidden Ambiguity Islands, and the power that covered the sky and the sun almost surrounded the Hidden Desert Island.

"It's really fake, it's really such a big ship!"

"And there are so many ......"

"Such a fleet may really be able to hold 20,000 people."

"Of course!"

The noise around made Ashikaga Mitsutsu, as the main envoy, very nervous with Kyogoku Gaoguang as the deputy envoy.

The reason why they chose to meet Zheng He in person on the Oki Islands was also to show their strength, so there were more than 30 warships of 200 materials on the docks of Oki Island, and there were even 2,000 ashigaru and 400 cavalry on the island.

In their initial opinion, such power was enough to demonstrate power.

But now it seems that the strength they think is so ridiculous in front of the absolute strength of the Ming Dynasty.

"Woo-woo-"

"Bell... Clang... Bell ......"

The sound of trumpets and bells enveloped almost the entire sea, and could be heard clearly even from miles away on the back island.

Soon, ten sand boats were put down, and Huang Wei, as an envoy, went to Houdao with two hundred navies.

When they arrived, Ashikaga Mitsutsumi and Kyogoku Takumi no longer had the confidence and composure they had before, and their hearts were full of apprehension.

After the landing of the 200 Ming Army, they couldn't stop feeling empty.

The bright iron armor and the tall and straight figure made all the Japanese on the back island ashamed of themselves.

Huang Wei landed on the dock in his usual clothes, and spoke in Japanese to Ashikaga Mantsukan and Kyogoku Highlights, led by the Shogunate Army:

"I am the deputy envoy sent by the envoy, and the envoy is inviting the two of you to meet on the ship of the fleet."

Speaking of this, Huang Wei also looked helpless: "Please understand, after all, the Southern Dynasty of your country has done something to hurt the envoys." ”

"It's... We can be considerate. Ashikaga Mantsu and Kyogoku nodded apprehensively in response, as if they were the guests for a while, and Daming was the host.

They were allowed to lead a hundred escorts to the ship, and at first they were only apprehensive, but as the sand ships drew closer to the fleet, their feelings began to grow in fear.

The 400-gauge sand ship was already considered a medium-sized warship in Japan, but when the sand ship led them into the range of the fleet, all of them had to look up to see the Ming army on the deck looking down on them.

From the 3,000-material warship on the periphery to the 5,000-material treasure ship in the center, the eighteen-zhang long treasure ship is daunting.

They are like a wall at sea, and they can't climb at all.

In the face of them, the 100 shogunate troops on sand boats were like ants on the fallen leaves of the lake.

Ashikaga Mitsutsu and Kyogoku Takamitsu couldn't imagine how the Ming would defend themselves if their intention was to send troops to attack Japan.

Of course, such a show of force also made them believe that the Ming Dynasty was really here to talk about the market trade, otherwise with the strength of this fleet, I am afraid that Kyushu Island would have fallen defenselessly.

"When you arrive, please lead the two guards up the ladder and watch your step."

When Huang Wei spoke, the shocked Ashikaga Mitsutsumi and Kyogoku Highlights reacted.

It turned out that the sand boat had stopped, and a warship next to it, which was two or three feet high, had also lowered its wooden ladder.

The ladder has handrails and is very heavy, but the shipbuilders have cleverly stored it on the side of the deck with a mechanism that can be used at any time.

Holding on to the handrails and feeling the slight shaking of the warship, Ashikaga Mitsutsune and Kyogoku Takamitsu's hearts were full of shock.

Following Huang Wei, they walked onto the deck and met hundreds of Ming soldiers who were more than five feet tall and wearing iron armor.

What's even more fatal is that they actually saw a war horse on the ship, which was tall, at least two feet taller than their war horse.

They couldn't believe what kind of impact such a cavalry would bring to the infantry on the plains.

As nobles, they could still be calm, but the hundreds of samurai who landed on the deck were so frightened that they couldn't move.

Feeling embarrassed, the two could only follow Huang Wei to the front and met five officials sitting in chairs.

The sallow skin of the leader, the appearance of deep eyes and high nose is eye-catching, but at the same time what is more striking is the clothes on his body that are beautifully embroidered.

To the left and right of this man sat two equally richly dressed men, and there was no one on the entire deck who was less than five feet apart from Ashikaga Mitsukan, and that was what shocked them the most.

"Throne!"

Zheng He spoke, and Ashikaga Mantsu and Kyogoku Gaoguang also took their seats under Huang Wei's comfort.

Although the two of them sat down, because the Ming army chairs were made according to their normal height, they didn't dare to sit in at all, so they could only stick their butts against the chairs, which looked as funny as squatting on a high horse from a distance.

"Ming Taizong Record": "Japan's quasi-three Houyuan Daoyi wrote to His Majesty the Ming Emperor. ”

"Since the opening of Japan, all of them have been asked by Shangbang. Morality is fortunate to uphold the country, and there is no danger at home. Now that I heard that the state opened the market in Japan, I was sincerely afraid of morality, and I was stunned and cautious. ”

"The matter of the hidden differences and Sado in the city, the moral gratitude is extraordinary, but the country of Japan is small and the people are widowed, and the financial resources are insufficient, so I hereby write to the state, and ask the city to give more than half of the commercial tax to the state, so as to make the people safe, the sea and the sea, and the morality is the first and the first again."

(End of chapter)