New Shun 1730

The gunfire outside had gradually stopped. Zhaoren lowered his head and looked at the knife in his hand. Thinking back to Wu Fangrui's taunt that he was "not qualified to talk about the country", Zhaoren gradually felt that the knife in his hand was a little heavy.

What made his heart churn were Wu Fangrui's last few words. Zhaoren was indeed not even qualified to call the door.

If the shogunate wants to fight, it will establish a new king and fight to the end just like it did after the Tumu Fort Incident.

But if he didn't want to fight, he wouldn't have established a new king. Instead, he would have asked Zhao Ren to talk to Dashun. The shogunate was about to fight to the death, but the emperor surrendered first. Then the fight would be natural.

In the Zizichen Hall, the voices gradually became quieter, and finally fell into a panic-inducing silence. Even the gunshots and shouts of killing outside had disappeared.

Zhaoren thought for a while and asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"Where do you come from?"

"Yonago, who was in Tottori a few days ago, arrived at Obama four days ago. We broke through the city in an hour. I led the front and galloped through the starry night, with the army behind."

Wu Fangrui felt that there was nothing to hide, so it was better to talk about it directly.

Akihito had already known the news that the Dashun Army had broken through Kochi Castle and messed up Tosa. With this psychological expectation, he was not too shocked when he heard the news that he had broken through Kohama Castle within an hour.

After considering the distance between Tottori Yonoko and Obama, Akihito nodded silently and asked: "General Shunguo, can you leave first? I want to talk to Guan Bai."

Wu Fangrui didn't hesitate and turned around to leave. Whether he dies or not, he has done what he should do, but he doesn't know if he will die if he goes to the Japanese King again when he walks into the Zizichen Palace again. Is it alive?

The general and the interpreter left the Zichen Hall. Zhaoren glanced at Ichijo Jianxiang who was waiting to chop him down. Ichijo Jianxiang shook his head and knelt down under Zhaoren.

This may be a rare conversation between the emperor and Guan Bai without the eyes of the shogunate, but I never thought it would be such an occasion.

"I'm ready to die, but General Tang's words seem to make sense. Death at this time is meaningless."

"If the conditions of Tang State are acceptable, I will negotiate, which may be the best result. If the conditions are not acceptable, it will not be too late for me to die."

Zhao Ren expressed his inner thoughts, hoping that Ichijo Kaneka could give some advice or strengthen his thoughts.

Ichijo Kaneka pondered for a while and said: "The Tang State cannot be defeated. Kyoto is not Edo, but the Tang State's army can attack the imperial palace, but where can't it go? But, what does the Tang State want?"

Zhaoren smiled bitterly and said: "In the past, in the summer of the fourth year of Masanori, Arai Shiraishi changed the currency system and established trade regulations."

"In that year, Tang merchants may abuse our merchants and untouchables, and those who resist will pay for their crimes. Later, the price of copper skyrocketed, and mutual trade was not possible. Nagasaki people may not be able to make ends meet, so they often smuggled goods at sea. Tang merchants may also land and invade, but the natives refuse. Use weapons to rob them."

"In the autumn, merchants and barbarian ships of the Tang Dynasty arrived at Zhuhai. Zhuqian, Nagato, Kokura and other vassals prepared their troops. Reporting to Shiraishi Araishi, Junmei said: Our country is martial, and it is known to all countries. Now that I have been insulted, the national body is exhausted. He! Then he suggested to take precautions. From then on, there was no more invasion by Tang merchants."

"Businessmen, peasants, and merchants are the lowest. The Tang Dynasty went to war for the untouchables, saying benevolence with their mouths and seeking profit in their hearts. If it was for the benefit of merchants, they might not be willing to occupy an inch of land. Junmei once said: Rice cloth is like hair, gold and silver are like bones, and hair is like bones. It can be regenerated, but the bones cannot be restored."

"If you can exchange gold and silver for an inch of land without losing it, this is also a great good."

"If the people of the Tang Dynasty took the soil without asking for gold and silver, I would die."

"Warrior requires soldiers and land, but gold, silver and copper coins are not necessarily needed."

For decades, the only person in Japan who could be called a famous official with a strategic vision was perhaps Arai Shiraishi whose influence has been left to this day.

But even Shiraishi Arai only had a strategic vision in the classical era.

The line is wrong. The more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you will become. This is what people like Arai Shiraishi are talking about.

The route is still to maintain the seclusion system first. Judging from this route, Arai Shiraishi's methods are truly top-notch. Everything we do is to safeguard the four-people system of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce".

But the route is wrong. The more you do, the more mistakes you make.

The result of Arai Shiraishi's work for a long time is that the Netherlands is catching up with its own bad things and Dashun is also sleeping, otherwise it would not be left in the history books: [Autumn, Tang Shang and Manchuan arrived in Zhuhai. In front of the building, Nagamon, Kogura and other feudal lords prepared for the troops. Reporting to Arai Shiraishi, Junmei said: Our country's martial prowess is known to all nations. Now that I have been insulted to this extent, what is the state of my country? It is recommended that strict precautions should be taken to keep records.

As long as Dashun wakes up, or if the Netherlands is not affected by the South China Sea Bubble, or there is no major uprising in Southeast Asia, the record in the history books will become "Junmei reduced the Nagasaki trade, which led to the invasion of the Southern Barbarians and the rampage of the Tang Dynasty merchants. All are guilty." .

Akihito's vision is just that, but he can also understand the premise of Arai Shiraishi's saying that "rice cloth is like hair, gold and silver are like bones, hair can be regenerated, but bones cannot be regenerated", which is normal trade.

If it is abnormal, then gold, silver, rice, cloth, relative to territory, can be given up.

However, there is another thing besides territory.

"Besides, there is one more thing that the Emperor of Tang must be concerned about." Zhaoren called Emperor Dashun the Emperor of Tang for the first time, and the implication was obvious.

At that time, Arai Shiraishi and North Korea's Zhao Dayi had a long-standing quarrel because the king was still called the king.

When the North Korean delegation arrived at Tsushima, they still refused to obey. Finally, Soyoshi called the army and said that if you don't obey, then I will have to ask the samurai to help you obey. North Korea followed suit.

When Zhaoren was arguing with Wu Fangrui before, he said that if you start with this, you must end with this. Now think about what was done to the Korean delegation back then, I am afraid that Dashun will do the same. If they don't obey, they will be forced to obey by the army.

It is still unknown whether Dashun will start with this and end with this in the future. But what we know now is that Japan will probably start with what Korea started with in Tsushima back then, and end with Dashun today.

Zhaoren thought of this and finally spoke about the most crucial thing.

"In the fifth year of Kyoho, Tokugawa Muneyo presented the Great Japanese History, in which Tang was recorded in the Biographies of the Feudal Domains, while the Japanese royal family recorded it in the Chronicles. The Emperor is the Son of Heaven."

"Since Tang sent troops in the name of Ryukyu's tribute, I am afraid that the Great Japanese History must be the first thing to talk about. If this matter cannot be settled, I am afraid that the subsequent discussions will be difficult to continue."

"Do you serve as a minister? Fight to the death? According to the Song Dynasty, "the minister's words" will be infamous for thousands of years. I really don't want to accept this infamy."

Ichijo Kaneka took a deep breath and asked back: "During the reign of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, the Emperor went to Nijo Castle to see Tokugawa Iemitsu. Isn't this a humiliation? How does it compare to Jingkang?"

Ichijo Kaneka hasn't told a more unpleasant story yet. If you really want to talk about it, there are more disgusting things.

Akihito was speechless for a while, and wondered in his heart whether there was a difference between Emperor Go-Mizunoo going to Nijo Castle to "pay homage" to Tokugawa Iemitsu and "the minister's words".

In Akihito's opinion, it is true or not, and it seems to be similar from the perspective of the royal family.

Ichijo Kaneka continued: "If your majesty wants to die for the country, you should bear this infamy and seek stability for the shogunate. If the Tang people do not attack the powerful vassal states in the southwest, is it because they cannot defeat them? If the shogunate loses all its authority, wouldn't it be a great chaos? In a great chaos, how can it endure hardships and avenge the humiliation?"

"If there are many vassal states, some will have connections with the Tang Dynasty, some will have connections with the Netherlands, and even some will believe in Kirishika. "

"Duke Zhou was afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang was respectful and humble before he usurped the throne. If the Tang emperor died after the Weishui Alliance, and there was no great cause of destroying the Turks, how could it be called a name?"

"Now in Japan, the only one who can take on the heavy responsibility of enduring hardships is the shogunate."

The shogunate is not a good thing, but it is the only one who can take on this great responsibility now. No matter how bad the centralized unification is, even if it is nominal, it seems to be better than the numerous feudal states when resisting foreign humiliation.

Especially when the military power of the "foreign humiliation" is far stronger than the internal one, if the external force is still bone arrowheads and wooden bows, and the internal one has iron weapons and firearms, then there is not much difference, but there is no "humiliation" at all.

Now, the only one who has the ability to integrate Japan alone and endure hardships is the shogunate.

Dashun is not far away, and under the premise that Korea is a vassal, the distance is actually the distance from Tsushima to Fukuoka. This is completely different from the situation where Western countries have not yet established a firm foothold in Southeast Asia and after the New Deal of Arai and Shiraishi, they are thinking about opening up the country with gunboats but cannot gather troops.

Tsushima is only a hundred miles away from Fukuoka. In this case, it is unwise to "restore the king's rule" or "respect the king and expel China".

In this era, whether it is dormant or pioneering can be seen by looking at the country's concern for geography. The geography of this era is always closely related to navigation and the degree of knowledge of external intelligence.

Even if Ichijo Kaneka does not understand this truth, he understands another truth:

Japan is not special and will not lack Shi Jingtang.

If the authority of the shogunate is really lost, anyone in Fukuoka, Shimazu, and Choshu can be Shi Jingtang.

Even if Tokugawa Yoshimune took the credit for himself and said that it was his own idea to plant sweet potatoes to resist the Kyoho famine, and claimed that it was his initiative to plant Satsuma taro and he asked to translate the "Sweet Potato Famine Relief Book", he could not avoid the records in Japanese history books:

[At first, Ryukyu tributed sweet potatoes to Satsuma, and Liu Yu, a Tang spy in Nagasaki, also sent several ships to tribute the "Sweet Potato Famine Relief Book". Yoshimune thought of the hungry people and did not realize his deception. He thought it was a good deed and planted it everywhere. This is a famine, and many people were saved from starvation. 】

Now Tokugawa Yoshimune has made it clear that Liu Yu is a treacherous person, which shows that Dashun's intentions towards Japan were planted years ago, nearly ten years ago.

Dashun could not have been unaware of the situation in Japan, nor could it have been unaware that after the Battle of Sekigahara, those in the Western Army did not survive by relying on the mercy of the Tokugawa family, but relied on their own strength to force the Tokugawa family to let them continue to be the lords of the domain.

At this time, if the shogunate loses its authority, those who want to be "Shi Jingtang" will probably have to line up. Some people may even "want to be Shi Jingtang but cannot."

Ichijo Kaneka is very clear about the current situation. The best result is to negotiate and let Japan maintain the old balance.

Whether it is sleeping on straw and tasting gall or accumulating strength, there is always a need for a leader. At this time, no one except the shogunate can bear such a heavy responsibility.

If Dashun continues to hold on, it will not fight the descendants of the Western Army of the year, but will attack the hereditary daimyo and the daimyo of the relative domain, or even only attack the shogunate's hatamoto, so what will happen?

The attitude of Dashun has clearly sent a signal: I can go to Kyoto and I can also attack the territories directly under the shogunate. The door has been given, don't be shameless. If you really support the strong southwestern vassal rebelling against the shogunate on the grounds of "restoring the imperial rule" and "returning the imperial power", you will be in trouble.

The problem is that the Dashun is close at hand. Just like the Dashun attacked Japan on the pretext that Ryukyu was invaded by Satsuma, the "Restoration of Imperial Rule" and "Return of Imperial Rule" are just a balance strategy for the Dashun under the eyes of the Dashun. As a lesson from history, the Eastern Tartars are under the banner of revenge for Emperor Chongzhen, but it is another matter to actually do it.

He nodded at Zhaoren, and Zhaoren knew that this was not just a casual remark.

Looking at the empty Zichen Hall and listening to the quiet outside, he knew that the outer city of the Imperial Palace had been completely controlled by the Dashun Army.

"So, as the general of the Tang State said, we must know small etiquette and great righteousness. Even if the Tang people ask to delete the "Great Japanese History" and change the "Honji" to "Shijia", we must agree. Is this considered great righteousness?"

Ichijo Kenka nodded and shook his head.

"Your Majesty, if the shogunate can endure hardships and achieve revenge by defeating Wu with 3,000 soldiers from Yue, it can be considered a great cause; if the shogunate fails to endure hardships, it will be like Wu Hou's six expeditions to Qishan but return without success, and your Majesty will only end up with the same reputation as Song Gao and Ming Ying."

"But who can know what will happen in the future?"