Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

When Shimazu Shigehao heard this, the expression on his face twitched unconsciously, and the veins on his forehead popped out.

"Tokugawa Ieharu, how dare he, how dare he!"

Originally, Shimazu Shigego's plan was to bring down the Radukawa shogunate, use the power of the entire Japan to fight against the Ming Dynasty, and help the Shimadzu family regain control of Ryukyu Island.

But unexpectedly, the Tokugawa family dared to risk the disapproval of the world and chose to side with the Ming Dynasty to deal with the Shimazu family.

If this happens, Satsuma Domain may really be in danger.

Shimazu Shigehao was completely panicked now and didn't know what to do.

His heart was beating loudly in his chest, almost jumping out of his throat.

The Tokugawa family joins forces with the Ming Dynasty, let alone the small Satsuma clan. Even if all the foreign daimyo who oppose the shogunate unite, I am afraid they will not be a match!

Nomura Tsukaji saw the seriousness on Shimazu Shigehao's face and asked.

"Your Excellency, what should we do next?"

Nomurazukaji asked.

During the questioning, the confusion on his face was visible to the naked eye.

Hearing this, Shimazu Shigehao took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and then spoke.

"Given the current situation, if we, the Satsuma Domain, want to fight against the Ming Dynasty and the Tokugawa Shogunate on our own, we will not hesitate to use eggs to attack rocks."

"It's really a mantis trying to block a car!"

"If we want to break the situation, all we can do now is to bring in as many outside forces as possible."

"Nomura-kun, you are going to set off now and go to the Choshu Domain, Aki Domain and other foreign strong feudal clans on my behalf to ask them to send troops to help."

"I don't ask them to help my Satsuma clan fight against the Ming Dynasty. As long as they can help us withstand the pressure of the Tokugawa family, then the situation we are facing can be greatly alleviated."

Shimazu Shigehao knew that if he wanted to draw Choshu and Aki-fan against the Ming Dynasty, there was a high probability that Choshu and Aki-fan would not agree.

It would be too unwise to fight against the Ming Dynasty for the sake of the Satsuma Domain.

As long as the feudal lords of Choshu Domain and Aki Domain still had sense, they would not do this.

After all, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's disastrous defeat in Korea is still before our eyes.

However, if Shimazu Shigehao just asks them to send troops to help share the pressure of the Tokugawa family, then it is most likely feasible.

Because the Tokugawa family and the Choshu clan didn't deal with them in the first place.

If it can cause trouble for the Tokugawa family, then the Choshu Domain and Aki Domain will most likely do it.

They didn't have much respect for the Tokugawa shogunate.

As for the Satsuma Domain, as long as the Tokugawa Shogunate's troops can be held back, the pressure they face will naturally be reduced a lot.

If the enemy this time is only the Ming Dynasty, Shimazu Shigehao believes that with the advantage of fighting in the local area, although he does not dare to hope that he can defeat the Ming army, he should be able to compete with the Ming army to some extent.

As long as he can fight with the Ming army on the battlefield, he will have the capital to negotiate with Ming Dynasty.

By then, maybe I can save my life...

Hearing this, Nomura Tsukasa bowed down and accepted the order, and immediately prepared to do it.

But Shimazu Shigehao continued to speak.

"In addition, we will send people to the famous places of each vassal, use the land wealth of our Satsuma Domain as collateral to borrow money, and then recruit warriors from each vassal to come to Satsuma Domain to fight..."

Japan is a feudal country, a feudal country where the vassals who truly implement vassals are not my vassals.

There is a clear hierarchy from top to bottom.

The emperor is the nominal supreme ruler. Although he has no real power, he is still aloof.

Even the Tokugawa Shogunate, the actual ruler of Japan, needed to marry the emperor from generation to generation to stabilize his rule.

Going down, there is the level of the daimyo of each feudal lord, including the Tokugawa shogunate.

They are Japan's real ruling class, the so-called feudal aristocracy.

Further down, there are thugs raised by various nobles, who are the so-called samurai.

In Japan, a country with a very strict class monopoly, the samurai class was born to fight.

Only in war can warriors have the value of their existence.

Since the Tokugawa shogunate established a stable rule, Japan has been at peace for a long time. The samurai class has continued to multiply, and there are more and more samurai. The finances of each lord are somewhat unable to support them.

The treatment given to the samurai is getting worse and worse!
Some samurai even had to work for businessmen as thugs in order to support their families.

The fundamental reason for this is because there is no war.

Because there is no war, the samurai population cannot be consumed on a large scale and can only continue to increase.

Because there is no war, the importance of samurai is getting less and less, and their treatment is getting worse and worse.

If those samurai class want to change everything currently, the only way is war.

As long as they can launch a war and participate in the war, the current predicament they are facing will be easily solved.

The current Satsuma Domain is the place where war is most likely to break out in all of Japan.

Shimazu Shigehao believed that as long as he was willing to pay the price, there would definitely be samurai who couldn't restrain themselves and came to Satsuma Domain to join the war.

Because not everyone can realize the power gap between Ming Dynasty and Japan.

If he could get the support of enough idle warriors, he might really be able to inflict a heavy blow on the Ming army in local battles and force the Ming army to retreat and negotiate peace.

This is Shimazu Shigehao’s plan now!

Shimazu Shigehao was not willing to sit back and wait for death, so he could only try his best to survive.

As for whether the daimyo of each domain would prevent samurai under each autonomous region from going to Satsuma Domain to participate in the war, Shimazu Shigehao thinks not.

Because the samurai population in Japan is now severely overpopulated, some of the vassals cannot afford to support these thugs.

If these thugs want to take the initiative to leave the jurisdiction of each domain and go to Satsuma Domain to fight, it will be too late for them to be happy.

After all, people would die in war, and if more samurai died, the financial pressure on each vassal could be alleviated.

why not?

Anyway, the ones who died were samurai, not big names like them.

After hearing this, Nomurazukaji bowed again to show that he understood, and immediately prepared to resign.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside.

A small letter came in to report.

"Your lord, the representative of the Dutch East India Company, is bringing an envoy from England and an envoy from Spain to seek an audience with you."

Shimazu Shigehao couldn't help but frown when he heard this.

"Nishi? Why did they come to Satsuma Domain?"

Easterners in this era generally looked down on foreigners, and so did Shimazu Shigehao.

Although he set up schools within the domain and supported the development of Western learning, this did not mean that he could look down upon foreigners.

Just like in the late Ming Dynasty, although many scholar-bureaucrats chose to join Catholicism, they mainly did so to learn some new knowledge from Catholic missionaries. It is impossible to say that they are truly religious.

After all, the Catholic deal includes only worshiping God and not worshiping ancestors. Which scholar-official would risk the disapproval of the world and really not worship ancestors?
Religious?

It's nothing more than pretending to get something from the missionary.

In their hearts, these people also looked down upon the Westerners.

The saying "He who has no father and no mother is like a beast" is the most appropriate evaluation of Catholicism by Chinese scholar-officials.

It's just that Chinese people have always been more reserved and reserved. Even if they look down on you, they won't show it openly.

Although Shimazu Shigehao was confused as to why the Dutch and British were looking for him now, he still spoke.

"Go and invite people in!"

After all, the situation he was facing now was extremely bad, and there would not necessarily be anything to lose by meeting those Western barbarians.

Maybe they can bring some surprises to themselves?
Nomura Tsukaji resigned and left, preparing to arrange various affairs according to Shimadzu Shigehao's instructions.

At the same time, Xiao Xin, who came in to report, also came in with three foreign devils dressed in different clothes.

The leader was the red-haired Dutchman. Shimazu Shigehao was very familiar with him. He was a representative of the Dutch East India Company named Leo.

The remaining two people, one named William, were representatives of the British East India Company.

The other, named Adelson, was a representative of the Spanish Viceroyalty in Manila.

The reason why an Englishman and a Dutchman got together is because the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ended last year with the Dutch's comprehensive peace.

After the war, the international financial center changed from Amsterdam to London, and the Netherlands completely became Britain's little brother.

Globally, the Netherlands will do things in step with the UK.

In East Asia, the same is naturally true.

This time the British and Dutch came to Satsuma Domain with a very clear purpose.

Add more trouble to Ming Dynasty!
How should I put it, the relationship between Ming Dynasty and Britain is not very good now.

Ever since the Ming Dynasty had a fight with the British during the battle to regain Macau, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the British has been relatively tense.

Although after the Ming Dynasty regained the capital, both sides completed the superficial peace talks with their own motives, which gave the Ming Dynasty an opportunity to reach out to India, and at the same time gave the British an opportunity to trade in East Asia.

On the surface, the relationship between the two parties seems to have returned to normal.
But in fact, the conflicts of interest between the two parties did not disappear because of such a superficial peace talk. Instead, they accumulated and deepened.

For example, the British once accounted for at least one-third of maritime trade interests in the East.

The rest are the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries that were the traditional pioneers in large-scale navigation.

Further down the line, it will be the turn of countries like France to enjoy a little bit of soup.

However, since the Battle of Macau, with the deepening of relations between the Ming Dynasty and France, the trade share that originally belonged to the British was eaten up bit by bit by the French.

The trade shares held by Britain and France have reversed.

France gets the big deal!
This is unacceptable to the UK.

Moreover, in the short term, due to the close relationship between Ming Dynasty and France, it will be very difficult for Britain to regain its trade share even if it completes the peace talks with Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the British East India Company urgently needed to expand new trade routes to make up for its losses.

The Spaniards and the Dutch also had the same goals as the British. With the restoration of the Ming Dynasty and the opening of the sea, most of their interests in the east were occupied by the rising Ming maritime merchants. They also needed to open and expand new trade routes in order to Make up for the loss.

Japan was the target jointly chosen by Britain and Spain.

Because Japan is the only country in the entire East Asia that has not been included in its own order by the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to Japan, Korea, for example, has been annexed by the Ming Dynasty, and Annan, Siam and other countries are vassals of the Ming Dynasty.

If these foreigners want to break the situation, they can only start with Japan.

In their opinion, if they can sell Satsuma Domain at this time.

Then, they will definitely be able to open up the entire Japanese market through Satsuma Domain.

In turn, they were able to compete with the Ming Dynasty in East Asia by exerting influence on Japan.

They do not seek to overpower the Ming Dynasty in East Asia, they only seek to expand their country's influence in East Asia as much as possible and expand trade income.

It would not be like Tsarist Russia, which was completely dumbfounded as soon as it was sanctioned by the Ming Dynasty for trade.

To put it bluntly, the ultimate goal of all their actions is to make money.

William, Leo, and Edson came to Shimazu Shigehao and bowed before William spoke.

"Dear Lord, we understand the dilemma you are facing now."

"I am here to provide you with certain assistance on behalf of the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company."

Shimazu Shigehao was a little moved when he heard this, but he still had doubts deep down in his heart, so he asked.

"How should I believe that you came here today to provide help to my Shimazu family, and not for ulterior motives?"

When William heard this, he smiled and said.

"Your Excellency, I think you have no other choice but to believe in us."

"Not everyone dares to bear the pressure from Ming Dynasty and provide help to you."

Hearing this, Shimazu Shigehao took a deep breath, but still spoke.

"Then what do you want?"

Shimazu Shigehao didn't believe that these two foreigners were really just here to help him. They must have some agenda.

When William heard this, he said with a toothy smile.

"Of course, there is no free lunch in the world."

"The British East India Company, the Spanish Governor-General of Manila, and the Dutch East India Company are all willing to provide help to the Lord, selling warships, arms, and mercenaries to the Satsuma Domain to resist the Ming Dynasty's aggression."

"But as a price, we need the Lord to open trade to us, Britain, and help us to open the door to the entire country of Japan, allowing our British merchant ships to freely enter and exit all ports in Japan, and allowing our British missionaries to preach in Japan. …”

When Shimazu Shigehao heard this, his eyes moved wildly, obviously thinking about something.

Although based on the current relationship between the Satsuma Domain and the Tokugawa family, he would definitely not be able to do the matchmaking.

But this does not prevent Shimazu Shigehao from agreeing to the matter first and deceiving the aid from these foreign barbarians.

In order to make the matter more believable, Shimazu Shigehao did not agree to their request, but instead asked.

"How much help can you provide to my Satsuma clan?"

William made eye contact with Edson and Leo for a while, and finally William spoke.

"As long as the feudal lord can afford the price, we can provide a fleet to help the feudal lord fight."

Shimazu Shigehao continued to ask.

"How big is the fleet?"

William said.

"As long as the feudal lord can afford the money, we can gather up to fifty sailing battleships and corresponding sailors." (End of Chapter)