Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2308: Fengshan (V) Shimazu Strategy

Shimazu Tadatsune took a deep breath. He knew that the next words were very important. If his performance could satisfy Gokaku, then these words would determine the future direction of Japan and the status of his Shimazu family in Gokaku's heart.

He calmed down and spoke slowly: "Yuge, I think that in order to quell these dissatisfactions and hidden dangers, we must first distinguish the differences between the three, and then prescribe the right remedy for each."

Gao Fusi nodded slightly, motioning for him to continue.

Shimazu Tadatsune went on to say: “First, we can adopt a strategy of appeasement and division for those daimyo who are dissatisfied because of the loss of their interests after the war, such as Mori Terumoto and Uesugi Kagekatsu.

If circumstances allow, we can give them some compensation, such as restoring some of their territory or giving them preferential treatment in trade, to ease their discontent. At the same time, we can bring them into our camp through marriage to weaken their will to resist. "

  Gao Youshi chuckled and said, "How is it possible to restore part of the territory? Japan is small in size and has a small population. Moreover, the constant wars have created too many samurai classes, resulting in no more titles. If it were not for this, how could Toyotomi Hideyoshi dare to attack Korea? To put it bluntly, isn't it because there are too many meritorious people and too little reward?

Tadashi, I know that many people in Japan hold a grudge against me and believe that I deliberately promoted this war between the East and West armies in order to weaken the power of the daimyos... Hehe, this is both true and false. Do you know why?"

  Shimazu Tadatsune broke out in a cold sweat and did not dare to sit still. He knelt on the ground and said, "The battle between the East and West armies is the result of irreconcilable conflicts between the arbitrary faction and the practical faction. How can it be said that the Imperial Pavilion did it on purpose?

I think it is quite the opposite. If the Imperial Court had not sent a letter to the two armies after the Battle of Azuchi, the two armies would probably have been unable to stop fighting. By then, the Eastern Army would have won but suffered heavy losses, while the Western Army would have lost but not lost any territory.

By then, the Western Army would retreat to rest. If the Eastern Army pursued, the Western Army could still gather the remnants and give it a try. If the Eastern Army did not pursue, the Western Army would rest for two or three years and then start a rebellion again... In this way, the war in Japan would continue and the people would suffer. The tragedy was unbearable.

However, since the Imperial Cabinet's order had been issued, neither the Eastern nor Western armies dared to disobey. As a result, the victory or defeat was decided, the world was at peace, and the people were relieved of their suffering... The Imperial Cabinet's contribution was like refining stones to mend the sky, which was immeasurable!"

Gao Youshi was so shocked by his remarks: Good fellow, good fellow! When it comes to calling a deer a horse and confusing right and wrong, Zhao Gao is no match for him. You Japanese are the best! Hey, what was I just about to say...

Although Gao Youshi never thought of himself as a gentleman who could be bullied, it was difficult for him to be so shameless. He calmed himself down, forced a smile and waved his hand, saying, "I ordered both sides to stop fighting in the end. Of course, I couldn't bear to see the lives of the people destroyed. But I watched the war between the two sides break out, and I did want to let both sides consume some energy."

He paused, and seeing that Shimazu Tadatsune was lying on the ground motionless, he had no choice but to continue: "The root cause is somewhat similar to Toyotomi Hideyoshi... If it weren't for suppressing some people, there would be too many Japanese daimyos, and they would not tolerate each other. Even if there is no war today, there will always be a war one day.

Since my son has taken Ieyasu as his adoptive father and will inherit the shogunate in the future, I, as his biological father, must make some plans for him. I cannot decorate a crater like this as a throne for him. In this case, I have no choice but to clip the wings of some daimyo who are too powerful and not very loyal to the Tokugawa family, and then use the vacant territories to reward loyal people... Do you understand?"

  Shimazu Tadatsune said that just now, essentially, just to "keep the matter secret for the respected one", how could he not know the truth? Especially since Gao Youshi did these things openly and aboveboard, the meaning was almost obvious, it was a complete conspiracy, even if Shimazu Tadatsune was young and couldn't see it, couldn't the two palaces in the family see it and remind him?

"Even so, the fact that the Eastern and Western armies were able to cease fighting after the Battle of Azuchi is still the credit of the Imperial Court," Shimazu Tadatsune insisted.

Gao Fusi was too lazy to care about him and said to himself: "So, it is impossible to recover part of the territory. We can only think of other ways. For example, you mentioned trade concessions, or even marriage... This is something we can consider."

Shimazu Tadatsune was delighted. He thought Gao Youshi would continue to elaborate on the trade concessions and marriage arrangements so that he could see if he could give some suggestions that would benefit the Shimazu family. However, Gao Youshi said calmly, "But we can discuss these details later. Please continue."

Shimazu Tadatsune had no choice but to change the subject, sort out his thoughts, and continue: "The second is those daimyo who stick to local ideas, such as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Hidetada.

I think that Japan has been isolated overseas for a long time, and its relationship with the Celestial Empire is indeed not as close as that of North Korea. If Japan is forced to follow North Korea's example and quickly submit, it will be difficult to convince the majority of people. Once things go wrong, it will provoke these people to rise up in rebellion, which will be bad.

Therefore, this matter must be slowed down. We need to respect Japan's traditional culture while gradually introducing the advanced system and culture of the Ming Dynasty. To this end, we can set up a special agency to promote Ming Dynasty's agricultural, handicraft and commercial technology, and at the same time encourage more exchanges between the two places, so that the Japanese people can enjoy the benefits brought by the Ming Dynasty while maintaining their own cultural characteristics. In the end, the water drips through the stone and fully recognizes the Ming Dynasty culture. If you want to annex Japan at that time, you only need to push it lightly to make it happen. "

Gao Fusi nodded, but did not comment. He just said, "Go on."

In fact, he was a little hesitant about this matter, not entirely because he handed Japan over to Gao Yan, but because the Ming Dynasty had no interest in Japan now, and many people even disliked Japan because of Japan's invasion of Korea. Korea was able to annex the country, largely because of the prevalence of "serving the great powers" in Korea. It was one of the most loyal vassals in the Ming Dynasty, so it was fine to accept it, and no one thought it would be a hidden danger.

Japan was different. The Ming court and the public had a very bad impression of Japan. Many people thought that these ungrateful people could not be fed. Gao Youshi had previously proposed to send the army to aid Korea to the Japanese mainland, but it never happened. Even Zhu Yijun, who was now full of ambition, seemed not to be interested.

Under such circumstances, Gao Youshi could not force the issue. After all, as Shimazu Tadatsune said, there were still many people in Japan with a strong sense of local identity, unlike North Korea where the majority of people were willing to submit.

If the Ming army was really mobilized to conquer, with a battle across the sea on one side and a fierce resistance on the other side, not to mention how many troops would be lost before it could be won, at least a huge amount of money would be spent. It would be far easier than the current approach of relying solely on economic coercion and military threats to deal with all the daimyo.

This arrangement is actually very clever: Gao Yan is a bastard's son and cannot inherit Gao Youshi's foundation. In addition, his biological mother, Narita Kai, is Japanese. Although the Narita family is not strong, their family status is quite high. Therefore, it is possible for him to worship Tokugawa Ieyasu as his adoptive father.

Ieyasu was an old-fashioned and realistic person. When he realized how powerful Gao Yousi's power was, he subconsciously thought that if he dared to refuse, the Tokugawa family would most likely be doomed.

On the contrary, if he agreed, although the Tokugawa main family would be taken over by outsiders in the future, he could use some means to make each of the Tokugawa branches become a powerful daimyo under the command of the main family and the shogun, which is what Japan calls a "kin han".

By then, although the Shogun's family had been "replaced", they would still be named Tokugawa, and the real Tokugawa families would also be able to prosper. Although this was not the best outcome, it was at least the least bad outcome.

As mentioned before, Tokugawa Ieyasu staged a premature division similar to the "Tokugawa Gosanke" in the original history, except that this time it was not three families, but four families - after all, Tokugawa Hidetada could not become a shogun, but he could not be one of the "Gosanke". However, this time the Battle of Azuchi was different from the Battle of Sekigahara in the original history. The former was stopped by Gao Youshi, and after the stop, Kaihime was sent to serve as the "Goryodai" to control the remaining territory of Toyotomi Hideyori, so that the territory he had seized after the Battle of Sekigahara in the original history was preserved, which resulted in Ieyasu's gains after the war being less than in the original history.

Therefore, the current "Tokugawa Goshika" is not just an addition to the historical "Gosanke". In fact, the current "Goshika" is almost completely different from the original "Gosanke" - except for Mito.

Today, the "Four Tokugawa Families" outside the Tokugawa main family of the Edo Shogunate are: Tokugawa Hidetada of Suruga (Suruga and Totomi), Tokugawa Yorinori of Mikawa, Tokugawa Yoshinao of Shimotsuke, and Tokugawa Yorifusa of Hitachi.

However, Tokugawa Hidetada took over Suruga and Totomi, Tokugawa Yorifusa took over Mikawa, but Tokugawa Yoshinao did not take over all of Shimokawa, and Tokugawa Yorifusa did not take over all of Hitachi.

As for the reason, it is mainly because Mikawa, Suruga, and Totomi were considered the earliest bases of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and now they are all in Ieyasu's hands, so there is no problem in directly dividing them between his two sons, but it is not the case with Shimotsuke and Hitachi. Ieyasu himself did not get all of them, and of course it is impossible to divide them all between his other two sons. Of course, since Shimotsuke and Hitachi are large in area, if Ieyasu could really take them all, Ieyasu probably would not have divided them in this way.

In general, according to the latest land survey data conducted immediately after the Battle of Azuchi, the current koku of the "Goshi Shidai" is as follows: Suruen Tokugawa Hidetada 43.9 koku, Mikawa Tokugawa Yorifusa 33.6 koku, Shimotsuke Tokugawa Yoshinao 32 koku (Shimotsuke total koku 46.4 koku), Hitachi Tokugawa Yorifusa 29.6 koku. The total koku of the "Goshi Shidai" is 139.1 koku.

This data is fine if it is not compared, but if it is compared with the current shogunate tenryo, that is, the direct territory of the shogunate's main family, it is a big problem. Because now Tokugawa Ieyasu only has about 120 million koku of direct territory.

In other words, the stone height of the Shogun's direct residence is smaller than that of the "Goshike".

Gao Youshi certainly knew why Ieyasu did this. After all, no one would give away their life's hard work to outsiders in vain. Moreover, Gao Youshi could even guess that Ieyasu had already thought about how to explain to him: "The Four Houses" as the Tokugawa clan are the most authentic relatives of the family. The stronger the relatives are, the better they can protect the shogun's family. Moreover, the shogun's family can show magnanimity by not taking the many heavenly domains, making the hereditary daimyo such as the "Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings" more loyal.

After all, the strength of the shogunate was never just about the shogun's direct lineage, but also included the family, hereditary daimyo, and even some more loyal outer daimyo. In this case, Ieyasu could say that the strength of the Edo shogunate had not changed at all, and it would not affect Gao Yan's future succession at all.

Gao Youshi didn't say much, so Shimazu Tadatsune could only continue to provide his own analysis: "Finally, for those daimyo who thought they had made great contributions after the war and were rewarded but still felt it was not enough, such as Fukushima Masanori and Date Masamune.

I think that since we cannot increase their fiefs, we might as well give them higher status and even greater power to meet their demands. For example, Fukushima Masanori can be given the title of Ou Kanrei; Date Masamune can be given the title of Oshu Tandai. "

  Gao Fusi frowned slightly and asked, "Although Fukushima Masanori is the leader of the Seven Spears of Jianyue, and is now indeed sealed in the northeast, his territory is only 320,000 stones after all. Isn't it a bit unrealistic to confer him the title of Oyukanrei?

As for Date Masamune, he is the most powerful force in Oshu (Mutsu), but because of this, if he is given the title of Oshu Tandai, will it be possible for him to seize the territories of other families in Mutsu through some means in the future?"

Here we need to explain the "Tandai" a little: the so-called "Tandai" is one of the most important local positions in the Muromachi shogunate period of Japan. There are four specific positions: Kyushu Tandai (or Jinxi Tandai, Kyushu Kanrei), Saikoku Tandai, Oshu Tandai (Oshu Kanrei) and Ushu Tandai (Dewa Taisho).

Tandai was in charge of the military and political power of Kyushu, Chugoku (referring to San'in and Sanyo), Mutsu, and Dewa, all of which were important military locations where troops were stationed throughout the ages.

The Kyushu Tandai was once very powerful when Imagawa Ryotoshi was in office in the early Muromachi period. It was later replaced by the Shibukawa clan and became a figurehead after the Onin War. The Oshu Tandai and the Ushu Tandai were formed by the split of the original Dewa Mutsu Tandai. The former was appointed by Date Harumune during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty (1555-1558), and the latter was inherited by the Mogami clan, and both were in name only.

Shimazu Tadatsune explained: "Oshu Tandai was originally appointed by the Date family, but the Muromachi shogunate has passed away, and Japan has undergone tremendous changes. Now there is Toyotomi Kogi above and the Edo shogunate below, so we can take this opportunity to reward Date Masamune with the position of Oshu Tandai again, so that he can at least get some benefits in name.

Everyone knows that Date Masamune has always been ambitious, but it is precisely because of this that he attaches great importance to these titles. Now if the palace is willing to give him this benefit, I think he should be grateful to the palace, so it is still appropriate. "

Gao Fusi thought for a moment and nodded, "You do have some sense. What about Fukushima Masanori? I feel that since Date Masamune is already the Oshu Tandai, then Fukushima Masanori's title of Ouhan Kanrei is a duplication of that. Shouldn't he be the Ushu Tandai?"

"Gokaku really has a keen eye!" Shimazu Tadatsune complimented, "Originally, there was only the Ushu Tandai, but I felt that Fukushima Masanori's status should be raised, so I suggested giving him the honorary title of Ouyu Kanrei. After all, in name, Ouyu Kanrei not only governs Ushu, but also Oshu (Mutsu)...Gokaku, what you want is for Fukushima Masanori to suppress Date Masamune in name!"

When Gao Youshi heard what Shimazu Tadatsune said, he immediately understood.

Although Date Masamune was only granted an additional 57 koku after the Battle of Azuchi, which was the Shiroishi Castle he had conquered, he originally had 62 koku, so his total koku was still as high as koku.

  After Fukushima Masanori was transferred from Kiyosu to Shimotsuke and Mutsu (his territory spanned two countries), his total koku was only 32 koku. But now he is being promoted to "Owa Kanrei", the highest position in both Mutsu and Dewa. Would Date Masamune, who is also very arrogant, be happy?

In this way, Fukushima Masanori, who is famous but weak, and Date Masamune, who is strong but small in reputation, will almost certainly not have a good relationship and will definitely dislike each other. In this way, in the future, whether it is Narita Kai as the lord or Takase as the shogun, they can use this contradiction to check and balance the two.

"Tadatsune, your suggestion is very insightful. I will seriously consider it and formulate corresponding policies." Gao Youshi nodded in affirmation and said, "At the same time, I also hope that you can continue to contribute to the stability and prosperity of Japan. I am optimistic about you and the Shimazu family... If the position of Tandai is born again, the Shimazu family will inevitably get the position of Kyushu Tandai."

Shimazu Tadatsune was overjoyed when he heard Gao Youshi's affirmation, especially when this imperial palace official saw at a glance that the Shimazu family wanted the title of "Kyushu Tandai" and immediately promised to grant it.

He knew that his position and the future of the Shimazu family would be changed because of this, so he kowtowed repeatedly and said with great gratitude: "It is an honor for me to be trusted by the Emperor. I and the entire Shimazu family will do our best and never let the Emperor down!"

Gao Youshi smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "I already know what you mean. Now, go and call Hidetada."

  "Yes, yes, I will go and summon Junfu-dono right away. Your Majesty, I will take my leave."
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PS: 4800+ words, not enough to make 5.