Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

After handing the bow and arrow to the guards, Ju Ming took off his helmet and looked down at the people in front of him: "Do you have full authority to represent the Japanese king?"

As a nominal envoy, Monk Yuanxin replied: "We were appointed by the Emperor to come to the Ming Dynasty to discuss the matter of Shi Jianguo."

Ju Ming asked: "Who can speak the most effective way, but just stand up, I'm too lazy to talk nonsense with you."

After more than ten seconds of silence, someone finally stepped forward.

He was neither the chief envoy, Monk Yuanxin, nor the deputy envoy, Dajiang Weishun, but he was a young man in his early twenties.

Ju Ming sat down on his horse and Jin Dao, then moved out a bench to give him a seat, and said, "Please introduce yourself to your family."

As expected, the young man introduced himself to his family without mentioning his official position: "Greetings to His Highness the Ming Dynasty Crown Prince. I am Fujiwara Ienari, of the famous Fujiwara Hokui family."

The Fujiwara family is not a monolithic family, divided into the Northern family, the Southern family, the Shiki family, and the Kyo family.

Currently, the Fujiwara Hokage controls the government, and its influence continues until the Meiji Restoration.

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government had 137 households, 93 of which were from the Fujiwara Kita family.

The Fujiwara Kita family continued to branch out, such as the famous Murasaki Shikibu, which came from the direct branch of the Fujiwara Kita family.

Fish celebrities belong to another lineage.

The fish celebrities also continued to branch into branches, one was the public family and the other was the military family.

The Fujiwara Ienari in front of me came from the famous private branch of Fujiwara Kitaiyu.

His great-grandmother was the nanny of Emperor Shirakawa, and quickly rose to power with the help of Shirakawa's administration.

Emperor Toba is now making a new start, and Fujiwara Ienari, representing the famous Fujiwara family, pulled a group of Shirakawain officials, Ma Liu, to join him.

This man was Emperor Toba's absolute confidant, and later even became his first favorite.

His daughter later married Taira Kiyomori's eldest son.

Of course, Ju Ming couldn't figure out a lot of this. He only needed to know that the person in front of him was talking effectively.

As a result, the chief envoy and deputy envoys all stepped aside, and Fujiwara Ienari was called to the front.

"Does the Japanese king still want to fight?" Zhu Ming asked directly.

Fujiwara Ienari did not answer directly, but protested: "May I ask, His Royal Highness the Ming Dynasty, Ishimi Country and Tsushima Island are our Japanese territory, why did the Ming Kingdom send troops to occupy them without authorization?"

Ju Ming asked: "A few years ago, when Xue Daoguang led his fleet to sea, why was it attacked by the Japanese army?"

Fujiwara Ienari explained: "It was a misunderstanding, and our emperor was opposed to it at the time. Although our soldiers raided the Tang army, those Tang troops also looted along our coast. In detail, our country's losses were even greater. Furthermore, The Tang army at that time was sent by the Song State, not the current Ming State. There was no conflict between Japan and the Ming State."

Ju Ming said: "No matter Song or Ming, they are all Chinese!"

Fujiwara Ienari said: "His Highness the Crown Prince's words are too strong and unreasonable."

"So what if you use strong words to make excuses?" Zhu Ming said: "The name of Japan was given by Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty. The name of Japan was given by Empress Wuzhou. Both Japan and Japan are vassal states of China. Now Japan has been a tributary of China for a long time. If you don’t come to court, the Ming Dynasty will send troops to punish one or two, do you need any other reason?”

Does a father need a reason to beat his son?

For a moment, Fujiwara Ienari had nothing to say.

The name of the country "Japan" was indeed given by Emperor Guangwu, and the "Yamato" nation was also born here.

Although the country name of Japan was changed by the Japanese themselves, they always hoped to be recognized by the Tang Dynasty. From the time of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, he begged and begged until Wu Zetian usurped the country, and finally obtained the official permission of the Tang Dynasty.

The name of the country and the clan were given by the Chinese emperor. Instead of paying tribute, the Japanese emperor attacked the Chinese fleet without authorization. This is treason!

Deputy envoy Dajiang Weishun finally spoke: "Your Highness, the emperor of our country has just started the administration of the court this year and is correcting past mistakes. This time the envoy came to China to ask the Ming Emperor for canonization and resolve the conflicts caused by previous misunderstandings."

Fujiwara Ienari quickly said: "That's exactly it!"

Ju Ming asked: "How does the Japanese king want to solve it?"

Oe Weishun said: "Japan is willing to bow to the Ming Dynasty and request the Ming Dynasty to enthrone the king of Japan. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will be the suzerain and Japan will be a vassal."

Ju Ming asked again: "If merchants from the suzerain country go to the vassal country to trade, can the vassal country stop them?"

Oe Weishun said: "Merchants of the Ming Dynasty can trade in Namba Kyo (Osaka)."

At this time, Osaka was controlled by a large group of monks, also mixed with the influence of Onmyoji, and all merchants took refuge in religious groups.

But in the past few decades, Emperor Shirakawa has been suppressing monks, and Taira Tadamori punished the monks of Mount Hiei many times. The imperial family has already reached out to the port in Osaka, but it is still barely possible to build an exclusive port for Sino-Japanese trade.

Ju Ming finally understood that as the Japanese envoy, Monk Enxin was purely a mascot. Fujiwara Ienari, Emperor Toba's confidant, was too young to actually negotiate.

The core figure of the mission must be Dajiang Weishun.

Ju Ming asked: "The merchants from the suzerain country can only trade here when they arrive in the vassal country. Is there any truth in the world? Now that the Ming Dynasty has opened the sea, the Japanese fleet can trade in any port. Similarly, the Ming Dynasty merchant ships , and should be able to trade at any port in Japan.”

Fujiwara Ienari looked at a samurai, Taira Tadamasa, Taira Tadamori's younger brother, who served as the escort captain of the mission this time.

Taira Taira nodded quietly, and Fujiwara Ienari smiled.

Immediately, Fujiwara Ienari said: "Our country is willing to repair Owata Tomari (Kobe Port) and open an additional trade port between the two countries."

Over in Kobe, the Taira family was extremely powerful.

Moreover, this was one of the five major ports in Japan during the Heian period. It was gradually abandoned due to Emperor Shirakawa's seclusion.

Historically, Taira Kiyomori turned this place into a Sino-Japanese trade center and did great business with the Southern Song Dynasty. They even forced Japan to move its capital here, but the resistance was too great and soon caused trouble.

Fujiwara Ienari can completely represent his family and partner with the Taira family to engage in Sino-Japanese trade.

The money earned from sea trade can also be divided among the Fujiwara clan, the Taira clan and the Toba clan.

Oe Weishun said again: "If two ports are not enough, Jiangdu (Tokyo, Japan) can also open a port."

Jiangdu is the core territory of the Dajiang clan, and Dajiang Kuangfang has been operating there for decades.

These Japanese envoys are actually willing to open the sea.

However, to open the sea, a port must be identified, and the port must be on their territory.

Ju Ming carefully observed the expressions of these people and could basically guess what was going on. He said: "Three ports are not enough. Five ports must be opened for trade."

The five ports are enough for the Japanese royal family and nobles to compete for. One or two forces must not be allowed to monopolize trade.

Dajiang Weishun said: "Five ports are too many. This matter needs to be returned to the country to ask the emperor for instructions."

"Okay." Ju Ming smiled.

Fujiwara Ienari asked: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, after the two countries open sea trade and the Ming Dynasty canonizes the king of Japan, can the Ming Dynasty withdraw its troops from Iwami Country and Tsushima Island?"

"No," Ju Ming refused, "Abiru Motomori of Tsushima Island does not recognize it as Japanese territory."

Oe Weishun immediately retorted: "Your Highness, the Kingdom of Tsushima is one of Japan's imperial kingdoms. The Abiru family has always been the officials of the Tsushima Kingdom appointed by Dazaifu. There are even nobles in Heian Kyo who lead the Tsushima Kingdom. On the contrary, Tsushima The position of guardian was assumed by the Abiliu family, and our country has not appointed any nobles to be guardians of horses!"

Oe Weishun was telling the truth, but Abiriu Motosei was talking nonsense.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the name "Tsushima Kingdom" already existed, and it was one of the many ancient kingdoms in Japan.

Ju Ming ignored this and said extremely arrogantly: "The Abiriu clan has ruled Tsushima Island for generations, and now they have donated their land to the Ming Dynasty."

Ojiang Weishun said angrily: "Your Highness, the Ming Dynasty is already rich all over the world, so why does it still want to occupy the poor land of Tsushima? It is unjust and disrespectful for the suzerain to annex the territory of the vassal!"

But Ju Ming said: "The Ming Dynasty has not yet canonized the King of Japan, and even the previous Song Dynasty has not canonized the King of Japan. How can it be said that the relationship between the suzerain and the vassal is? The Abiliu clan dedicated Tsushima Island to the Ming Dynasty. What does this have to do with Japan?"

Dajiang Weishun asked: "How can the Ming Dynasty return these two countries?"

Ju Ming said: "The Ming Dynasty will decide on Tsushima Island. If the Japanese king no longer entangles this place, then Ishigami can consider returning it. The so-called return means changing from occupation to leasing."

"Lease?" Dajiang Weishun didn't understand.

Ju Ming explained: "That is to say, Iwami Kingdom is still Japanese territory, but it must be leased to the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years. It does not require too much space. It only rents the area between Iwami Kingdom City and Omori Mountain, and the annual rent is one thousand taels of silver."

One thousand taels of silver?

If we only rent Kokujo and Omoriyama, it doesn't seem like a loss-making deal.

The place was already poor, covered in mountainous areas, and had few specialties. The annual tribute around the national city and the Dasen Mountain area is actually less than one thousand taels of silver.

Since Daming likes it, he can rent it out.

Anyway, other areas of Ishijian Country can be recovered without any bloodshed. This is already the most advantageous solution at present.

Back at the Sifang Pavilion, the Japanese envoys began to discuss.

Fujiwara Ienari said: "The Ming Dynasty only needs Iwami Castle and Mount Omori, so just give them there. And it's just a lease. It's still Japanese territory. It doesn't lose face for the country. Let Iwami Castle be leased out." , we can also build a national city elsewhere.”

Dajiang Weishun wondered: "What is the purpose of the Ming Dynasty? They raised troops across the sea, but only rented two pieces of land. It was a loss-making deal."

Ping Zhongzheng said: "My brother once went to Ishijian Castle to inquire about it. He heard that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty sent onmyoji to Dasen Mountain to find immortals in order to seek immortality. Perhaps the Ming Dynasty rented Daqing Mountain at a loss just to obtain the elixir of immortality. That’s all.”

"It should be like that. I heard that they also killed the monks in Dasen Mountain." Monk Yuanxin was quite frightened by this.

In the absence of news, these messengers discussed repeatedly, and they all believed that leasing could be discussed and was the best way to solve the problem.

The Japanese court leased two pieces of land and even made more money than the previous annual tribute.