Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 357 Ryukyu
In the Guangzhou Imperial Garden Study, it was already the 16th day of the first lunar month. Zhu Lang sat behind the table, and Li Chengzhi stood below, reporting on the situation in Ryukyu.
"Last year, the Imperial Guards questioned several sea merchants from Fujian who went to Japan, and also found several old files from the Wanli period among the retired officials of the Honglu Temple. The two documents confirmed that Ryukyu was secretly controlled by Japan at that time."

In 1609, the 37th year of the Wanli reign, Satsuma officially sent troops to attack Ryukyu with the consent of the Tokugawa shogunate. This was the Satsuma War in history.

On the eve of the Battle of Salau, the Jianghu Shogunate rescued a group of Ryukyu merchants who had suffered a shipwreck and sent people to return them to Ryukyu.
Tokugawa Ieyasu used this as an excuse to order Ryukyu to send an envoy to Edo to pay homage and express gratitude, but Ryukyu refused to send an envoy.

Before this, Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Central Plains dynasty, just like Wakoku.

The Edo Shogunate nominally wanted Ryukyu to send an envoy to express its gratitude, but in reality it wanted to incorporate Ryukyu into its own vassal system and make Ryukyu submit to it. How could Ryukyu agree to this?

After the Edo Shogunate learned of Ryukyu's attitude, it immediately ordered Satsuma to send troops, and the Satsuma War officially began.

In the 37th year of Wanli, Satsuma gathered 3,000 soldiers and set out to fight.
The Satsuma army set out from Kyushu Island in March and then marched all the way with unstoppable force. It took only a month to capture the Ryukyu capital Shuri Castle and captured the then Ryukyu king and his ministers.

The cause of the Saluki War was ostensibly because Ryukyu refused to send an envoy to express gratitude, but the real purpose of the Edo Shogunate was to obtain the right to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

After the Wanli Korean War, the Toyotomi shogunate was severely damaged. The elite troops accumulated by the Toyotomi shogunate in the process of unifying Japan were all lost in the Korean War.

What was even more serious was that Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in the same year of his defeat, and the Toyotomi shogunate was finally unable to suppress the ambitious daimyo in the country.
In 1603, four years after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, Tokugawa Ieyasu launched a rebellion. In the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa won a great victory. Tokugawa Ieyasu also successfully overthrew the Toyotomi shogunate and officially opened the Edo period.

After the Korean War and the Battle of Sekigahara, Japan's domestic industries were in decline. Except for food, it could barely be self-sufficient. Everything else was lacking.

The Japanese lost a large number of craftsmen in the century-long war. Goods were scarce and expensive. Even the samurai class could not afford a set of shoulder robes and feather weaving.

Since Japan could not produce goods domestically, it naturally turned its attention to overseas. The place with the most overseas goods was naturally Ming.
However, after the Japanese invasion during the Jiajing reign and the Korean War, the Ming court became more strict in its maritime ban on Japan. Although there were still merchants who took the risk to smuggle goods, the goods provided by the smuggling merchants were far from meeting the domestic demand in Japan.

Moreover, the private traders risked their lives to bring goods here in order to make money. The goods brought by these smuggling merchants were also not cheap.
The reason why the Edo Shogunate allowed the Satsuma Domain to occupy Ryukyu was actually to obtain the right of Ryukyu to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. It wanted to obtain a large number of low-priced goods from the Central Plains through the tribute trade between Ryukyu and the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Edo Shogunate tried its best to conceal the fact when it conquered Ryukyu, the Wanli court had actually learned about the Satsuma conquest of Ryukyu through the maritime merchants in Fujian Province the same year when Satsuma sent troops.

The Wanli court not only knew that Satsuma had sent troops, but also knew that the Ryukyu king had been captured and taken back to Japan after his defeat.
Ryukyu was one of the vassal states that had the closest relationship with the Ming Dynasty. The Ming court was naturally furious when it learned that Japan had occupied Ryukyu. However, after discussion, Wanli and his court officials decided to pretend they didn't know.

Although the Ming Dynasty defeated Japan in the Korean War, this war also completely exhausted the treasury of the imperial court.

Moreover, Ryukyu is different from Korea. Korea is connected to the Ming Dynasty by land, but Ryukyu is isolated overseas. Since the Ming Dynasty tried to ban maritime operations, it has long had no navy capable of crossing the ocean.
Although the Ming court was unaware of Japan's invasion of Ryukyu, it did take action.
The Edo Shogunate conquered Ryukyu in order to obtain the right of Ryukyu to pay tribute. Therefore, after signing the treaty with Ryukyu, the Edo Shogunate quickly returned the Ryukyu King to Ryukyu, creating the illusion that the two countries were just experiencing friction.

What the Edo Shogunate wanted was the right of Ryukyu to pay tribute. If the Edo Shogunate blatantly occupied Ryukyu, the Ming court would certainly cut off Ryukyu's right to pay tribute, and all the efforts made by the Shogunate would be in vain.

After all, Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming court decided not to care about Ryukyu's affairs, the Edo Shogunate did not know how the Ming Dynasty would react.
At that time, the Korean War had only been over for less than ten years. In the Korean War, the elite troops of the Japanese feudal domains suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the Ming army. When the Japanese feudal lords mentioned the Ming army, they were almost terrified.

The most direct cause of the war ten years ago was the Japanese occupation of Korea, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. How could the Edo Shogunate dare to ignore the attitude of the Ming Dynasty at this time?
After the Ming court determined the purpose of Japan, it was also very direct. When Ryukyu came to pay tribute the following year, the Ming court directly changed the tribute period from every two years to every ten years on the grounds that Ryukyu had just experienced a war and needed to recuperate.

After the Ming Dynasty changed the tribute period, it directly blocked the possibility of Japan using Ryukyu as a tribute to obtain goods from the Central Plains at a low price.

After learning about the Ming Dynasty's reaction, the Edo Shogunate also did not dare to send troops to annex Ryukyu again, but kept urging Ryukyu to find a way to resume tribute as soon as possible.
Although the Edo Shogunate did not formally annex Ryukyu in the end, due to the indifference of the Ming court, Ryukyu was still a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty on the surface, but was secretly controlled by the Japanese Kingdom.
After listening to Li Chengzhi's report, Zhu Lang sorted out the current situation in Ryukyu, thought for a moment, and then said

"Bring those people from Ryukyu here. The Maritime Trade Department has completed the trial voyage, and it's time to make some arrangements there."

Li Chengzhi responded respectfully and left the hall. Not long after, Mao Taijiu and Jin Yingyuan were brought into the room.

Mao Taijiu and his companions entered the room, knelt down and said

"The envoy from your country, Mao Taijiu, greets His Royal Highness the Regent of the Celestial Empire."

Mao Taijiu and his companions were in the inn today when they suddenly received a notice from the Honglu Temple, ordering them to enter the palace immediately to meet the emperor.
The three of them had no preparations. They only had time to put on their official robes before being led into the palace.

Mao Taijiu and the other two knelt on the ground, their faces tense. After they bowed, there was still no sound from above.
The hall was completely silent. Mao Taijiu and the others could even hear their own heartbeats. As time passed, Mao Taijiu and the other two had cold sweat on their foreheads.
After an unknown amount of time, a voice finally came from above.

"Keep your head up"

Mao Taijiu's heart trembled when he heard the voice, and then he slowly raised his head. Mao Taijiu looked upwards, but he was shocked to find that the figure above was staring at him coldly.
Mao Taijiu looked at the tall figure in the bright yellow dragon robe above him, and suddenly panicked. He subconsciously turned his head away, not daring to look at the person above him. But at this moment, a cold voice came from above.
"You are the traitors who want to betray the Ming Dynasty and join the Tartars?"

Mao Taijiu was panicked when he heard this, and immediately knelt on the ground with his head bowed. Jin Yingyuan and Jin Siyi also looked frightened and knelt on the ground.
The Regent asked questions. Normally, if there was no special question, it should be Mao Taijiu, the envoy, who should talk to him. However, Mao Taijiu was already sweating profusely and looked panic-stricken.

Seeing Mao Taijiu trembling, Jin Yingyuan suddenly exhaled and said in a deep voice:

"Your Highness, please allow me to report. Ryukyu has been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years. For three hundred years, Ryukyu has crossed the sea and ocean and sent tribute envoys every year. We have long been a child of the Central Plains. How dare we rebel against the Ming Dynasty?"

"We paid tribute according to the rules two years ago, but we were captured by the Eastern Tartars as soon as we arrived at Fujian Port. The Tartars wanted to force us to meet the leader of the Tartars, but we refused to comply, so we were imprisoned in Fuzhou City by the Tartars."

"I, Ryukyu, am loyal to the Ming Dynasty. This is proven by the sun and the sky. Please understand, Your Highness."

After Jin Yingyuan finished speaking, he gritted his teeth and suddenly fell to the ground with a bang.
Mao Taijiu and the other man standing by were stunned for a moment, then they suddenly realized what was going on and slammed their heads to the ground with two loud bangs.
The three members of the Ryukyu delegation had already discussed that no matter what, they would insist that it was the Qing government that captured them and brought them to Fuzhou City, and they would never admit that they had ever planned to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty.
Mao Taijiu and others did not admit that they had changed their tribute to the Qing Dynasty, not to exonerate themselves. On that day, they went to the Fuzhou government office to meet Zhang Cunren. Many officials in the Fuzhou government office knew that this matter could never be concealed from the Ming court.

The Ming court could question them and execute them, but they could never confess their guilt.

The Ming and Qing dynasties were now conquering the world. Once they admitted that Ryukyu had intended to pay tribute to the Qing dynasty, there would be no room for maneuver between the Ming and Ryukyu. Mao Taijiu and others had no choice at this time. If they did not admit that they were deceiving the emperor, they would be guilty of deceiving the emperor and dying. If they admitted that they were traitors, they would be dead.

In this case, it is better to hold on to the end and leave a glimmer of hope for Ryukyu.

Jin Yingyuan and the others knelt on the ground, their minds tense, when suddenly a loud shout came from above.

"How dare you quibble? Our Ming merchants passed through Ryukyu and have already sent back the news."

"There are suspicious people appearing in your Ryukyu Kingdom from time to time. These people have a shaved head, just like the Tartars. It is clear that your Ryukyu Kingdom has been in contact with the Qing invaders for a long time, and you still don't tell the truth!"

Jin Yingyuan and others were also stunned when they heard this, but they immediately reacted. Others didn't know, but they knew very well that the suspicious people mentioned by His Highness the Regent must be those Japanese people on the Ryukyu Islands.
The Japanese samurai class all shaved their heads in a topknot, which was a shaved topknot. It must be that those ignorant seafaring people mistook these Japanese people for Tartars.
Jin Yingyuan heard the scolding, but a hint of joy flashed in his eyes. If His Highness brought the officials from Fuzhou Prefecture to confront him, they would have no choice but to resist and not admit it.

But now His Majesty the Regent is using overseas events to question them, which means that those clerks in the palace who knew about it have most likely fled, and the court has not caught any concrete evidence of their surrender. If this is true, then they still have a way out.
Jin Yingyuan thought of this and immediately spoke

"Your Highness, please allow me to report that the people who were seen by the merchants on the island baring their heads should be from Japan."

"Ryukyu is located in the sea, and Japanese ships often drift to the country due to wind. The Japanese people do not understand the etiquette of the Central Plains, and the people in the country like to shave their hair. The Japanese call it "Yuedaitou" (a head of hair with a head of ...

"If the bangs are shaved too much, they will look like Tartars. This must be a merchant from an upper country who mistook the Japanese for Tartars."

"I, Ryukyu, am loyal to the Ming Dynasty. How could I have anything to do with the Eastern Tartars? If Your Highness doesn't believe me, you can send someone to investigate the country. I am willing to guarantee with my life that there is absolutely no Tartar in my Ryukyu Kingdom at this moment."

Jin Yingyuan became more and more certain as he spoke. Although they were forced to meet the Tartars in Fuzhou in order to complete their maritime trade mission, they were very sure that Ryukyu had no connection with the Qing court at this time.
Jin Ying was anxious, waiting for the Regent's reply, but Jin Yingyuan didn't expect that as soon as he finished speaking, a response came from above.
"Okay, in that case, I will send someone to Ryukyu to investigate. If it is really just the Japanese drifting to the sea, I will spare you for now!"

"There is one more thing. Recently, when our Ming merchant ships were sailing at sea, they were often attacked by Qing merchant ships."

"Ryukyu is a strategic point on the sea. I will send a group of troops to station in Ryukyu to intercept the Qing merchant ships at sea. When you return to Ryukyu, ask the Ryukyu government to allocate a piece of land for my Ming navy to station there."

Jin Yingyuan was already delighted after hearing the previous paragraph, thinking that he had finally found a chance to survive. However, after hearing what the garrison said, the expressions of the three of them immediately changed.

There are no Tartars in the Ryukyu Kingdom, but there are a large number of Japanese
If the imperial court only sent people to inspect, they could still let the Japanese on the island retreat, but if the Ming Dynasty wanted to station troops in Ryukyu, then the relationship between Ryukyu and Japan would inevitably be difficult to conceal.
Jin Yingyuan looked surprised, raised his head suddenly, and immediately said

"Your Highness, please allow me to report that the matter of garrisoning troops is of great importance. This matter must be returned to the court for the decision of the prince. I dare not make the decision on my own."

Just as Jin Yingyuan finished speaking, His Royal Highness the Regent spoke again.
"What do you have to report? Didn't I say before that Ryukyu is a child of the Ming Dynasty? If that's the case, why should I discuss stationing a part of the Ming Dynasty's troops?"

"The imperial court stationed troops in Ryukyu in order to encircle and suppress the Qing Dynasty's naval warships. This matter concerns the overall situation of the Central Plains and must not be changed. After the spring, these troops will go to Ryukyu with the enthronement fleet."

"The expenses of the Ryukyu garrison will be borne by our Ming Dynasty, and the rice and grain needed for daily use will be purchased from Ryukyu at the market price. All you need to do is to allocate a piece of land to Ryukyu."

Jin Yingyuan and the other two heard that the court was so anxious that they were about to send soldiers. Their expressions changed drastically.

They knew the situation in Ryukyu better than anyone else. They said they were going back to Ryukyu to consult Shangxian, but in fact they were going back to consult the Edo Shogunate.

The Edo Shogunate has secretly controlled Ryukyu now. How could they allow the Ming Dynasty to station troops on the island? Once the Ming army stationed troops on Ryukyu, once the two sides had a conflict, the Ryukyu court caught in the middle would probably be destroyed immediately.

For the safety of the Ryukyu court, the Ming Dynasty must not send troops to Ryukyu at this time!

Jin Yingyuan gritted his teeth and said

"Your Highness, Ryukyu has always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty. I can guarantee with my life that Ryukyu will never take in any Qing merchant."

"Ryukyu is isolated overseas, and the people of the country have never had the opportunity to see the grace of the superior country. If the court suddenly sends a large army in at this time, it may cause unrest in the country. This seems a bit inappropriate. Your Highness, please..."

Jin Yingyuan was interrupted before he finished speaking.

"No, what's wrong with that?"

"You all know the truth about what happened in Fuzhou. I have given you some face. Don't think that the imperial court can be deceived!"

"Go back and tell the Ryukyu prince that if he does not accept the imperial garrison, Ryukyu will no longer have to pay tribute in the future."

Jin Yingyuan looked at the cold-looking Regent above him, and his face turned pale instantly.

Jin Yingyuan also realized at this time that the court might have already confirmed their surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

The reason why His Royal Highness the Regent deliberately kept silent was probably to use this as an excuse to station troops in Ryukyu.
His Highness the Regent's meaning is very clear. If Ryukyu agrees to station troops, then the people of Ryukyu will be captured by the Qing invaders and taken to the city. Ryukyu will still be a loyal vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
If Ryukyu did not agree, then Ryukyu would be betraying the Ming and surrendering to the Qing. From then on, not only would the tribute be cut off, but the Ming would probably no longer recognize Ryukyu's status as a vassal state.

"Take this message back to the Ryukyu County King. The issue of the imperial garrison cannot be changed. It is up to him to decide whether he is an enemy or a friend."

Jin Yingyuan and the others looked terrified and were about to ask for help again, but before they could open their mouths, the Jinyiwei came forward and took them out of the room.
(End of this chapter)