The eldest grandson of Emperor Ming Dynasty!

Chapter 731 The Precarious Japanese Emperor
Daming's steam ironclad ship is about to be manufactured.

On the Wa side, great changes have also taken place.

The four great vassal kings have now established a stable foundation in Kyushu Island, Japan, but they obviously want to annex the entire Kingdom of Japan.

On the surface, there is not much change, but in the dark, there are turbulent battles.

Local small-scale wars have basically never stopped.

Obviously, it is very difficult for the Japanese side to win against the four vassal kings.

However, Wa country has also developed very fast now.

Especially the matchlock gun.

Originally, Japan was very afraid of matchlock guns, and the production method of matchlock guns is not a big secret in Southeast Asia.

The sea-going ships of the Wa country also obtained manufacturing methods from Southeast Asia.

Seeing the four vassal kings mining wildly, the Japanese side also paid more attention to silver and vigorously mined silver.

As for the bottom layer, compared with the past, the quality of life of the people of the Japanese country has been greatly improved.

Especially the Japanese people in Kyushu Island.

At the very beginning, Kyushu Island was occupied by Ming Dynasty, and the people of the Wa Kingdom were in a state of panic all day long. Seeing that the former nobles and lords were all demoted to common people.

However, with the passage of time, the people of the Wa Kingdom were pleasantly surprised to find that being ruled by the Ming Dynasty did not seem to be very unbearable.

Over the past few years, as high-yield crops have entered the territory of the Wa Kingdom, the Wa Kingdom, which was originally short of food, has eased a lot.

From the perspective of the people of the Wa Kingdom, even though they have to dig mines for the officials and lords of the Ming Dynasty, food is guaranteed.

In the past, when I worked for the gentlemen of my country, not only did I eat a little, but also required a lot of labor.

Compared with this, it seems that the official master of Ming Dynasty is quite good.

Japan Zhongzhou Island, Kyoto.

Located in the middle of Zhongzhou Island, Kyoto is the capital of the Wa Kingdom and the most prosperous place in the entire Wa Kingdom.

Except for the palace where Emperor Komatsu lived, the General's Mansion is the most magnificent.

At this moment in the General's Mansion.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is listening to reports from various daimyos.

"Your Excellency the General, I now have Fukui, Shiga, and Mie prefectures, Nara Prefecture to the south, Osaka Prefecture, and Hyogo Prefecture. According to the order of the General, 47 firearm workshops have been built."

"Nearly [-] matchlock guns are produced every day. In addition, [-] pieces of artillery can be produced every day. I believe that it will not be long before they can be equipped with large-scale armies, and there is no need to worry about being threatened by the Ming army."

"Under the leadership of Your Excellency the Great General, our Japanese country will definitely be able to recover Kyushu Island, expel the Ming people, and unify the Japanese country."

It was Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's confidant Takeuchi who spoke.

The Wa country has long coveted Ming's firearms, and at the same time they have suffered enough from firearms, so they try their best to make firearms.

There must be no success from the four vassal kings, so they directly used the treasury and spent a lot of gold and silver to obtain firearms craftsmen from Southeast Asia by sea.

No matter how expensive it is, it doesn't bother me at all.

The current matchlock guns are not a big secret. Basically, countries with some channels can get some, and it is not complicated to learn.

Regardless of the financial resources of the Wa Kingdom, dozens of firearms craftsmen were finally transported back.

With a wave of his hand, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu asked every firearms craftsman to open a firearms workshop, and then sent a large number of apprentices to follow and learn.

Crazy build firearms.

Although the country of Wa experienced the turmoil of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the overall population declined, there were still 600 million people.

Although the island nation lacks resources, apart from civil wars, Japan has few external wars.

The last war was in the early Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties a hundred years ago.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu knew very well in his heart that the four feudal lords facing each other across the sea were trying to attack the Japanese country all the time. If it wasn't for the restrictions of Ming Dynasty, maybe the four feudal lords had already attacked.

On the other hand, Daming is not merciful.

It is completely rushing to annex the Wa country completely.

He heard that on the current island of Kyushu, the four vassal kings have opened a large number of schools for learning Chinese and Chinese characters.

And the etiquette education is also going on at the same time.

The Wa Kingdom itself has no writing, and all the Japanese writing comes from the Central Plains Dynasty.

From the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty flourished.

In fact, even today's Wa country is similar to the Chinese system in terms of pronunciation and writing.

Similar to the previous dynasties of the Central Plains, only nobles, monks and other high-class people in the present Wa Kingdom are eligible to learn characters. Ordinary people don’t even know how to write their own names.

Now Daming engages in school education, no matter what status you are in Kyushu Island, you can go to the school to learn characters.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu knew in his heart that this was to assimilate his people.

Let the people of the Wa Kingdom gradually forget themselves, and thus become the people of Ming Dynasty.

When Daming completely controlled Kyushu Island, it was time for the four great vassals to attack the Japanese island of Honshu.

Even if he knew the purpose of Ming Dynasty, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could not do anything about it.

For Daming, it is now possible to rule the entire Wa Kingdom directly, but it will bring about a large number of uprisings.

Gradually encroaching and slowly assimilating is in the best interest of Daming.

For Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, if he directly attacked the four vassal kings during this period, the chance of victory might not even be [-]%.

Although it will destroy Daming's plan, the Ashikaga family will definitely disappear, which is of course not possible.

The current Wa Kingdom is tantamount to a military competition with the four vassal kings.

As time goes on, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu believes that he can achieve the final victory.

"Da Ming's arquebus is very sophisticated, even if you fire dozens of rounds, there is no danger of exploding."

"How long will it take for our matchlock guns to reach this level."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu asked Takeuchi.

He didn't know firearms before, but after seeing the power of Daming firearms, he spent a lot of energy learning and understanding.

Takeuchi quickly replied: "Those craftsmen from overseas are not very skilled, and many of them are just apprentices. Therefore, the matchlock guns they make are not sophisticated, but they can be barely used."

"After learning this production method, our craftsmen have been gradually transforming the matchlock guns. Now the newly produced matchlock guns are less than [-]% explosive."

"I believe that as long as there is enough time, our craftsmen can also make matchlock guns like Daming's."

Yoshimitsu Ashikaga nodded.

The current situation is already very good.

In fact, he once went to the firearms workshop to check, and knew that the so-called less than [-]% was a completely imaginary number.

After the matchlock gun is manufactured, it is ignited and fired. As long as the first shot does not explode, it is considered qualified.

When it is actually equipped in the army, the warriors holding the firecrackers depend entirely on luck.

No one knows whether to hit the enemy or himself when the next shot is fired.

Fortunately, the Japanese country is very rich in mineral resources. Not only do they not have to worry about boasting ores, they also don't have to worry about the saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal needed to make gunpowder.

There are many volcanoes in Japan, and there is no shortage of saltpeter and sulfur, let alone charcoal.

What makes Ashikaga Yoshimitsu regretful is that they can only produce granules of gunpowder but not fire bombs.

The bullets used for killing are replaced by the lead stones of the previous Central Plains firecrackers.

Except for Takeuchi's report.

Other daimyos also began to report their own situations.

Now almost all the people of the Wa Kingdom are soldiers, and the total military strength has reached as many as 80.

This is also the current confidence of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

But he is also very clear that there is a lot of water in it.

Among them, even peasant households have to participate in soldiers' drills during the slack season, but all men between the ages of 14 and 45 must submit to military service according to today's requirements.

In comparison, the total strength of all the troops currently in the hands of the four major feudal lords of Ming Dynasty is less than 20.

It's just that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is very clear that his 80 soldiers, against the 20 soldiers of the four major feudal lords, is almost less than [-]% chance of winning.

If war starts, Ming will inevitably continue to increase its troops, and it is impossible for Wa to win the final victory.

Therefore, building firearms is currently the most important thing in the entire Wa country.

Inside the hall.

After the other daimyos left, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu left Takeuchi alone.

"I heard that His Majesty the Emperor has other ideas now, do you know about these situations." Ashikaga Yoshimitsu asked calmly.

Wu Nei's heart suddenly became nervous when he heard the words.

"Reporting to Your Excellency the General, I have heard some, but there is no definite news."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said bluntly: "I heard it from the monks. His Majesty the Emperor is very close to the merchants of Ming Dynasty. According to the news, these merchants are not real merchants. They are the subordinates of the four great feudal lords."

Speaking of this, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not let Takeuchi say anything, but said with a sigh: "His Majesty the Emperor is already 22 this year. I understand very well that a young man desires more power."

"If it was before, there would be no problems with these things, but now is the most dangerous time since the establishment of the Wa Kingdom. Once we fail, the entire Wa Kingdom will cease to exist and will be completely reduced to the territory of Ming Dynasty."

"I know that many people have been bewitched by Ming Dynasty. They gave some benefits and let these people betray their country, but His Majesty the Emperor shouldn't do this."

"The entire Wa Kingdom belongs to His Majesty the Emperor, and the shogunate is just a shepherd who replaces His Majesty's sheep. He should trust, not be jealous, and not sow discord."

Hearing this, the Takeuchi family trembled a little, and immediately prostrated themselves on the ground and said, "Your Excellency, the Takeuchi family has always been His most loyal servants, Your Excellency, please trust me."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu glanced at Takeuchi who was lying on the ground, and said, "I watched His Majesty the Emperor grow up. I know exactly what he has in mind."

"I don't want to know what he told you in the pagoda yesterday, but you have to tell him that human life is very fragile. Even His Majesty the Emperor is born, old, sick and dying. He should pay more attention to his words and deeds."

"The Takeuchi family and the Ashikaga family have always been the most loyal allies. I believe you will make the right choice."

Speaking of this, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's tone has become extremely cold.

The Takeuchi family gritted their teeth and replied: "The Takeuchi family will always obey the orders of the General, at any time."

Hearing Takeuchi's firm tone, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sighed and said: "His Majesty the Emperor is young and will always be bewitched by others. In this matter, I think you can help the Emperor better and deal with those villains around you." .”

At this moment, Takeuchi didn't dare to hesitate, and replied: "Follow the orders of His Majesty the General, and I will go and clean up all those villains around His Majesty the Emperor."

"It's just that His Majesty the Emperor said that Princess Xiangzi has become the concubine of the grandson of the Ming Dynasty. The grandson of the Ming Dynasty loves Princess Xiangzi very much. If"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu snorted coldly: "Nothing."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Great General." Takeuchi didn't dare to say any more.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu finally explained: "The grandson of Ming Dynasty has many concubines, and Princess Xiangzi is just one of them."

Wu Nei said: "I understand, Your Excellency the Great General."

Inside the Kyoto Palace.

A large number of nobles, courtiers, and monks gathered together, nearly a hundred people.

They are all supporters of the current Emperor Komatsu.

Many of them are even left over from the Southern Dynasties.

In the 25th year of Hongwu, Emperor Kameyama of the Southern Dynasty accepted the conditions of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and returned the artifact to the Northern Dynasty, thus ending the division between the North and the South.

After the unification of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not fulfill his original promise, that is, he still restored the tradition of the emperors of the Daikakuji School and the Chimeiin School.

The so-called Daikakuji School and Chimeiin School symbolize Emperor Go Komatsu of the Northern Dynasty and Emperor Go Kameyama of the Southern Dynasty.

In the late Kamakura period, No.80 Emperor Saga had two sons, the eldest son Hisahito and the second son Hengren.

Both wanted to be emperors.

Under the arrangement of Emperor Saga, the elder brother Hisahito took the lead in succeeding to the throne as the No.80 Nine-generation Empress Fukakusa.

More than ten years later, under the arrangement of Emperor Saga, Hisahito gave the throne to his younger brother Hengren, the No.90 Emperor Kameyama.

Later, the conflict deepened, and under the "friendly persuasion" of the Kamakura shogunate, an agreement was reached between the two factions to take turns as the emperor and give way to each other's sons.

As for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, he obviously didn't want to continue this agreement.

Because he wanted his son to inherit the position of emperor.

If you continue to alternate like this, how can you have a chance.

After all, Hou Xiaosong and Hou Guishan are related by blood.

Because of the threat of Ming Dynasty, the power of the Muromachi shogunate continued to expand, and the current emperor has been completely emptied.

All daimyos obey the orders of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu because of the war.

It was nothing at first, but at this moment, Emperor Go Komatsu has been forced to recognize Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's son Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as his godson.

This means that Ashikaga Yoshichi may also have the possibility of inheriting the throne of the emperor.

This made Emperor Komatsu completely unable to accept it.

So Emperor Hou Komatsu secretly contacted Hou Kameyama to discuss how to keep the emperor's blood flowing.

And these naturally need the support of more big names.

(End of this chapter)