Jingming

Chapter 190
On the third day of May, the atmosphere in the Forbidden City was a little tense.

In Qingning Palace, everyone was anxiously praying for Concubine Xian, hoping that she would give birth smoothly.

It has been half a year since His Majesty got married, and the empress is not yet pregnant, so the prince's pressure is all on Concubine Xian.

Zhu Houcong has been waiting in the Qianqing Palace.If he went to Chang'an Palace, it would only add pressure to the people there.

What's more, at this time, the military report from Guangdong has also been delivered to Beijing.The Portuguese in Malaga assembled a fleet of seventeen ships, but fortunately, the fleet of the Maritime Trade Bank happened to meet them in the South China Sea.

At this moment, he didn't know whether the war in Guangdong had already started.

Wu Tingju and Wang Xian had already arranged for the transfer of food and salaries, and Zhu Houcong, who was far away in the capital, could only wait for the result.

We have to wait for the results from Qingning Palace and the results from Guangdong.

Zhu Houcong didn't remember another incident that happened in Zhejiang this year, and this incident became a fuse that made the Japanese pirate problem he was familiar with more serious.

On the other side of Zhejiang, the banquet where the prefect of Ningbo together with the officials of the Shibo Division and other officials welcomed the Japanese envoys was finally about to be held, and the two envoys from the Ouchi clan and the Hosokawa clan met.

Zong She Qiandao met with Yuezhu Yongcheng, and heard a rather bad news from him.

"You said, their ships have to go to the port for unloading inspection than ours?"

Yuezhu Yongcheng was indignant: "Nearly 300 of us are crammed into a small temple, and more than a hundred of them live in the best Dongshou Temple and Tianning Temple in Ningbo."

Soshaki Kenmichi had a gloomy face: Compared with the reception arrangement, it would be a worse signal to let the Hosokawa mission, which arrived later, enter the port to inspect the goods.

Since the two missions arrived almost at the same time, and some of them would definitely go to the capital to congratulate the emperor, how could they be divided into two missions?

What the Ming court wanted was only an official mission from Japan, and they had the so-called congratulatory form in their hands—it must have been written by the Hosokawa clan, taking advantage of being closer to Kyoto, to force General Ashikaga to write it down, and stamped it with the name of the Ming dynasty. The silver medal once bestowed by the emperor.

At the welcome banquet, officials of the Ming Dynasty only received the principal and deputy envoys and the attendants of the two missions, and the accompanying personnel of other missions, merchants, and crew were not included in the reception.

At the entrance of the hall, Zong Sheqiandao saw the chief envoy Luangang Ruizuo and the deputy envoy Song Suqing of the Hosokawa Mission.

"I really didn't expect you to pretend to be envoys to come here even if you are not suitable." Zong She Qiandao first looked at Luangang Ruizuo, and then stared at Song Suqing with sharp eyes, "Especially you, haven't you been warned that you can't?" Serve as an envoy again?"

"The real envoys should be sent by the shogunate on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor. Ouchi Sakyo is the one who sent the so-called envoys in the name of the king without authorization?"

Zong Sheqian was very annoyed.

The Ouchi Clan is located in the Kyushu Island area in the northwest and southwest. It is no more fertile than the Hosokawa Clan's territory in the Kansai area. Those who have been working for the Ouchi Clan have always admired strength.

For many years, the Da Nei family's ability to control the transaction with Daming is the result of strength.

Now the Hosokawa family came to play this kind of superficial false game, and even humiliated them with such meaningless words.

"Only Kanhe can prove the authenticity of the identity." Zong Sheqian snorted coldly, "No matter what tricks you play, it will be useless in the end."

Seeing him striding in with the people, Luangang Ruizuo was a little worried, and asked Song Suqing quietly: "Is there any problem?"

Song Suqing smiled and said, "Don't worry, Luan Gangsang."

The Ouchi family is a group of barbarians with little education and no etiquette.How should Daming play in the officialdom, what do they know?I thought Kanhe was everything, but I didn't know why Kanhe came about.For this journey, they were destined to only deliver tribute for the Hosokawa clan.

Sure enough, as soon as they entered the door, Zong She Qiandao said angrily: "You superiors, foreign envoys cannot accept this arrangement! I am a dignified envoy, how can I sit in the second seat?"

Unexpectedly, Zheng Shoujie, the vice-president over there, just said lightly: "I have already revealed your identity. Mr. Xu, do you want me to go to your hometown to ask the clan elders to recognize you? Your Majesty accepts the Japanese tribute, Naturally, it should be a real Japanese envoy appointed by the Japanese king."

Zong She Qiandao immediately turned to look at Song Suqing.

No wonder he was only a deputy envoy.

"Could it be that the Kanhe in the hands of the foreign envoy is fake? Speaking of which, I was just about to ask, what kind of Kanhe is this so-called envoy from Luangang holding in his hand? Have all the superiors inspected it?"

Zheng Shoujie said indifferently: "How can there be such omissions in the affairs of the Celestial Dynasty? The Chinese books, Kanhe, and congratulatory forms in Luangang Zhengshi's hands are all true, and Luangang Zhengshi was born in Japan and grew up in Japan. Now that you are all here on behalf of the Japanese king, in my opinion, it would be better to form a group. The envoy of Luangang is the principal, and the deputy envoy of Yuezhu is the deputy. Since the two of you are descendants of Ming Dynasty living abroad, It is true to help get things done. If you are really used as envoys to go to the palace, isn't it a crime of deceiving the emperor?"

Zong Sheqiandao didn't expect that they would make a big fuss about their original status, and a deputy envoy would replace him as an envoy?
"Foreign envoys came with three boats full of tributes, how can they be deputy?" Zong She Qiandao shook his head repeatedly, "Zheng Tiju, you said that the Kanhe in their hands is true, but the foreign envoys Do not believe!"

Zheng Shoujie's face darkened: "The surname is Xu..."

"Shangguan, please be careful with your words, foreign envoys are state guests!" Zong Sheqian stood there without taking the seat, as if he wanted to identify himself.

Zheng Shoujie was about to explode when he choked on a sentence, but Song Suqing replied with a smile: "Zong Shisang, although the Kanhe we have is from the Hongzhi Dynasty, it is undoubtedly true."

Zong Sheqian was worried that he couldn't find a reason, and when he heard the words, he immediately yelled at Ryan, Xie Changjie and others: "After His Majesty Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty issued the new Kanhe, isn't the Kanhe issued by His Majesty Hongzhi no longer available? Foreign envoys dignified state guests, I don’t know why the heavenly officials are so unfair, could there be some inside story? Zheng Tiju?”

Zheng Shoujie, the last question he asked, saw his eyes, and Zheng Shoujie remembered what he said that day, "you know the rules."

Is this kid implying to everyone that if there is no reasonable explanation, they will reveal that they may have taken Song Suqing's money?
But don't you guys just guess, don't you have any evidence?
Song Suqing sighed regretfully: "My superiors, the foreign envoys think that no matter what dynasty your Majesty issued, as long as it is true, then the foreign envoys and others will travel thousands of miles to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Congratulations, this is where etiquette lies, and it is also the heart of fist. What Zong Shesang said seems to hide the meaning that one dynasty will be the emperor and the courtiers will be the courtiers.

In the end, he made a graceful salute: "The envoys must not be ignorant of etiquette, and all the superiors have learned from it."

What he said made Ryan, Zheng Shoujie and the prefect of Ningbo nod repeatedly, and Xie Changjie also looked at Song Suqing with interest.

Zong She Qiandao was able to become a monk in Japan, and his words were not bad.

But now he found out that even though he grasped the fact that he is an envoy who should not be insulted lightly, even though the Kanhe in his hands is true, the people he dealt with in the past were still Japanese ronin, ordinary civilians and those in the territory of the Ouchi clan. nobles.

Zong She Qiandao understands the reason why they make a fuss about their identity as descendants of Ming Dynasty.

But he didn't understand: Why should they think they would accept such an arrangement?

So he laughed a few times: "Aren't foreign envoys ignorant of etiquette and rules? It's just that the high officials of the heaven humiliated the envoys of the Fan Kingdom, but the foreign envoys cannot be indifferent! Now they come to pay tribute to the new king, and the foreign envoys have suffered such humiliation. , then we have no choice but to return in vain. If the swords and soldiers of the two countries rise again, it will not be the crime of foreign envoys!"

After finishing speaking, he said to Yuezhu Yongcheng: "Yuezhusang, let's go. Senior officials, please reload the tributes carried by the foreign envoys and others, and let me set off as soon as possible to return them."

Ryan and the others just watched him resolutely lead the people away, their faces were very gloomy.

Who can't see his credentials?It's all about retreating.

The Japanese mission entered Hong Kong with great fanfare, and returned before completing the tribute. What should the court do if they are accused?
Luangang Ruizuo and Song Suqing were only allowed to go to the capital to congratulate them with a gift list of tribute. What if the imperial court felt that Japan was neglecting them?
A good welcome banquet, Ryan didn't expect that Zong Shi Qiandao, who had been waiting quietly in the guest hall before, would be so strong, and he was obviously not an easy master to deal with.

"Xieqiandu, look at this..." Ryan looked at Zhichangjie, hoping for his advice.

After all, no one here knows the emperor better than him.

Xie Changjie thought about his mission, and said lightly: "The four boats of tribute must be presented."

The larger the amount of this tribute trade, the more tempted the rich merchants in the southeast will be. Xie Changjie only knows this.

Ryan was in a dilemma: But Zong Qiandao was determined to be an envoy and refused to hand over the initiative.

He couldn't help but looked at Luangang Ruizuo and Song Suqing: "This time there must be a new dynasty, why don't you take a step back. If you can present a congratulatory form and Hongzhi can get married, this new dynasty will be married, your two families But the family gets half of it."

Song Suqing shook her head resolutely: "Eunuch Lai, there are only a hundred or so of us waiting. How can we be spared on the way back to the country? Eunuch Lai doesn't know that the big nephew Zuojing has always recruited pirates. Now most of their missions are It's pirates. My lords, the foreign envoys have received letters from friends, didn't there be rebels colluding with pirates the year before last?"

The officials in the hall couldn't help but change their colors, and looked at Song Suqing unexpectedly.

The implication of this guy's words is already very clear: Although there are more than [-] people in the embassy of the Ouchi Dr. Zuo Jing, this is Ningbo, the Ming Dynasty.If pirates pretend to be envoys to catch them all in one go, wouldn't the problem be solved?
But after all, the other party has a real match.

The news of the Japanese missions entering Hong Kong has already spread throughout Zhejiang. Now, of course, they can be treated as Japanese pirates, but the news will eventually reach Japan.What if the Ouchi Zuojing doctor is angry and raises troops?

Ryan shook his head again and again: "That can't be the case."

But Song Suqing said: "Now all the missions have been disarmed, but this can be done by foreign envoys. The foreign envoys were ordered by the Japanese king to lead four ships of tribute to Daming. On the way, three ships were robbed by pirates. Dare to swagger and pretend to be an envoy to pay tribute, and the foreign envoy and others take advantage of his unpreparedness to annihilate him, then it has nothing to do with Ming Dynasty."

"...Song Suqing, you are too courageous!" Ryan stared at him, "The weapons of your mission have also been put away. Could it be that you want the Department of Shipping and Ningzhou Government to open the door for you?"

Song Suqing sighed: "The foreign envoy has nothing to do. Although there is a congratulatory form, he has no choice but to present it to His Majesty. All the superiors need to be aware that the foreign envoy really came by the king's order, and the big inner doctor Zuo Jing divided the area , is really a generation of disobedient ministers. The tributes of the past few years are basically plundered from the official missions."

Song Suqing was telling the truth, but Ryan and the others still refused to do such a thing.

Until Song Suqing said again: "The Japanese pirates along the coast of the Ming Dynasty mostly used the Ouchi clan as their nests. In the past, General Ashikaga wiped out the pirates on Tsushima and other islands. It was only after the Ouchi clan separated the area that they gradually became unable to restrain them. The remaining party of the colluding Japanese pirates may also be hiding under the shadow of the Ouchi clan."

Everyone's eyes were fixed together.

(End of this chapter)