Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 217 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is in Terror
On the fifth day of the second month of the thirteenth year of Hongwu, the tail end of the winter season was about to leave Japan.

Nara and Yoshino, as the capitals of the Southern Dynasty Japanese emperors, have developed into large urban population settlements over the years.

Although not as magnificent as the Kyoto Imperial Palace, under the arrangement of subordinates loyal to Emperor Nagayoshi, this capital was still envied by many common people.

The four-meter-high city wall alone made them curious. What kind of people live inside the heavily guarded imperial city?

I wonder if His Majesty the Emperor feels cold and hot just like them.

More than ten days ago, Li Wenzhong occupied the entire Fukue Island with his tyrannical force and began to prepare to send envoys there to inform Emperor Nagayoshi.

Three days later, or to be exact, there are still two days left, and he will bring his well-repaired Ming navy here.

According to what he meant, Emperor Chokei needed to prepare to welcome his arrival.

This time he came to Japan on behalf of the Ming Dynasty to restore order.

I hope Emperor Nagayoshi will not be ungrateful.

According to Li Wenzhong's personality, he was so direct in his letters, without any euphemism, which was exactly the same as Zhu Yuanzhang's habit of writing imperial edicts.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, he was still very casual when it came to writing imperial edicts.

To outsiders, he doesn't seem to have the airs of a high-ranking person at all.

At this moment, in the Nara Imperial Palace, in the townroom where the Emperor lives, four people gathered.

Emperor Chokei himself was a middle-aged man in his early thirties, wearing a platinum-colored imperial robe. Sitting on his left was a samurai dressed in a black robe and a military commander, with a topknot braid on his head. He looked very serious, as if he felt very troubled by what was to come.

The one on the right is a civil official in a green robe.

"General Tanaka, you have met with the Ming envoy in Kyoto. Based on your understanding of the Ming Empire, what do you think the Ming Empire wants to do by sending General Li to Japan this time?"

The Japanese man dressed in black robe and samurai is named Tanaka Yukinobu.

More than ten years ago, he was still the son of a retainer under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in Kyoto. Later, conflicts broke out between the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In order to escape the status of a slave and retainer, Tanaka Yukinobu took his few remaining forces and defected to the Southern Dynasty Emperor Nagakei.

Recalling Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's father, the previous shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiakira, he was a cruel and domineering guy.

When faced with the Ming envoy, he ordered his detention without hesitation.

This incident was the conflict that caused the conflict between Japan and the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, under pressure from all sides, Ashikaga Yoshiakira was forced to release the envoys who were still alive.

In response to Emperor Chokei's question, Nobuyuki Tanaka looked at his colleague who was kneeling opposite him.

"Your Majesty, I think it would be better for Mr. Kobayashi to answer this question. Compared to me, Mr. Kobayashi knows more about the Ming Empire."

Kobayashi Yoshihiko frowned slightly, moved his hips, put his knees towards the emperor, raised his hand and replied:

"Your Majesty, I think that the general sent by the Ming Dynasty this time, General Li, should be looking for a true leader who can unify Japan!
When the Ming Emperor Hongwu sent envoys to Japan, Ashikaga Yoshiakira brutally attacked the envoys in order to demonstrate his strength.

According to the news from the East, Emperor Hongwu was a suspicious person by nature and would not tolerate any stain around him.

He must have remembered that what Ashikaga Yoshiakira had done was truly disgraceful, so he sent General Satoshi to Japan to seek revenge.

At present, the Emperor of the Northern Dynasty is becoming more and more rampant and overbearing under the control of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Many families here want to betray you and submit to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Your Majesty, I am not saying anything unpleasant, this is the truth. If General Li from the Ming Dynasty can enhance our strength, then he is an honored guest. Why not treat him with the highest treatment?"

The two people's answers can be said to have touched the heart of Emperor Chokei.

As the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, despite his noble status, his power has been suppressed repeatedly in recent years.

Today, the Northern Dynasty has begun to show signs of victory. He is now quite old, and his offspring have not yet been fully trained.

Even if he was trained up, the imperial family had no strong support, and the shogunate family represented by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would soon devour his territory.

By then, his entire family would suffer. Emperor Nagayoshi couldn't even imagine what would happen if these things happened.

Horror! A rising fear in his heart instantly took over his whole body.

He looked at the fourth monk in the room next to him in fear and asked:

"Master Genben, I heard that you once studied Zen Buddhism in the Central Plains when you were young, so you must know something about the Ming Dynasty. Where did this General Li come from?
Could it be that, as Kobayashi and Tanaka said, they are not here for revenge, but to find capable Japanese ministers and unify Japan?"

This bald monk in plain clothes is called "Genben" and is the current abbot of Daikaku-ji Temple in Japan.

Today, the three great sacred treasures of Japan, the sword of Ame-no-Kagakumo, the Yasakani no Magatama, and the Eight-foot Mirror, are all placed in Daikaku-ji Temple of the Southern Dynasties, and are worshipped by the abbot Genmoto and his monks.

Master Genben is now over sixty years old. Before that, he had studied a lot of Buddhist teachings in the Central Plains, mainly Tantric Buddhism, Vajra Buddhism, Taizang Buddhism and other Buddhist doctrines.

Now, in the whole of Japan, apart from Master Nemoto, the most powerful person in Buddhism is Master Xuankong, the abbot of Shokoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, who lives within the area controlled by the Northern Dynasty.

In fact, both Master Nemoto and Master Xuankong were monks under the same emperor when they were young.

It's just because of the current division between the North and the South that the two have to serve their respective masters.

In the end, no matter who gets the whole of Japan, Buddhism will not cut off its future in Japan.

The monk Benben, who was wearing an earth-brown cassock and a straw hat, and was twirling Buddhist beads and reciting scriptures beside him, slowly opened his eyelids, which were full of wrinkles like a chasm.

He looked deeply at Emperor Changqing and began to reminisce. He said:
“Your Majesty, when I was forty years old, I followed a passing caravan to the Central Plains. At that time, the Yuan Dynasty no longer existed in the Central Plains. All of the Yuan Dynasty’s territory was occupied by three different Han Chinese heroes.

They are Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Finally, the Ming Dynasty fell into the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang. This emperor who rose from a beggar was surrounded by not only brave and skilled military generals, but also civil officials who were well versed in astronomy and geography to guide him.

As far as I know, General Li who is currently on Fukue Island is one of the generals who is very powerful in fighting.

At that time, I was still in Zhejiang, and General Li was ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang to be stationed in Yanzhou to resist the enemy in the rear.

At that time, there were only 20,000 to 30,000 people in Yanzhou who could fight in the war. But outside Yanzhou was another warlord, Zhang Shicheng, who was competing with Zhu Yuanzhang for the world!
It is said that Zhang Shicheng led an attack with 100,000 troops under his command and used various methods to try to capture Yanzhou in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, Yanzhou was guarded by Li Wenzhong like an iron barrel and could not be captured at all.

This gave Zhu Yuanzhang the final victory.

Finally, when I left, Li Wenzhong had captured the Yuan prince Mai Libashi in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and brought back many golden seals from the Song and Yuan dynasties and a lot of gold and silver treasures from the heartland of the Yuan Dynasty.

General Li must have come to Japan this time under the order of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

But I just can’t imagine why he would take Fukue Island for himself in such a domineering manner?
I wonder if anyone above has offended the Ming Dynasty?"

"Could it be that someone above him offended him?" Emperor Nagayoshi analyzed, and then looked at Tanaka Nobuyuki.

As all the families in the Southern Dynasty, the Tanaka family can be said to control 30% of the armed forces of the Southern Dynasty, and most of the people in the Southern Dynasty are also aware of how powerful this family is.

"Fukue Island is far away from the ordinary islands of our Great Japanese Empire. It is an independent island overseas. The last time I went to Fukue Island, the clan living there should be called Fujiwara clan.

However, the original clan leader had met with an accident at a banquet, and now the clan leader is called Fujiwara Kotaro.

But the person who sent us a letter a few days ago said that the current clan leader is named Fujiwara no Nagano Hiroshi, and he is the eldest son of Fujiwara no Mitsuhiko.

Logically speaking, there would be no conflict between the Fujiwara clan and General Li, but we don't know what happened in this matter.

All we know now is that Fukue Island has become the territory of General Li's men." Tanaka Nobuyuki simply analyzed all the information he could get.

This point is also recognized by Yoshihiko Kobayashi.

"That's right, what Tanaka said is very good. The Fujiwara clan has no connection with General Li, and they don't even have any intersection. It's just that General Li used such a domineering method to occupy Fukue Island. From this point of view, something unknown may have happened. In my opinion, the Fujiwara clan was originally dissatisfied with the emperor. Since they were dealt with by General Li, why don't we go with the flow and give the Fujiwara clan Fukue Island as a gift to the other party?"

Emperor Chokei had a slightly sad look on his face. He was an emperor after all, although he only controlled the Southern Dynasty and did not have real power.

Now a general from a powerful country came to his territory and occupied such a large piece of land without his consent.

In the end, he was forced to admit it with a pinch of his nose.

No matter how you look at it, he seems to be the one who suffers the loss in this matter, and it is not just an ordinary loss.

For a moment, Emperor Nagayoshi actually felt a little reluctant?

It didn't matter if he lost face, the key was that his subordinates, who were not loyal to him, saw him being so cowardly. Emperor Nagayoshi immediately felt that a crisis was coming!

"Your Majesty, this is the only chance for the Southern Dynasty to turn the tables. The person who came to tip us off has already made it very clear. General Li has tens of thousands of elite soldiers and generals. Master Genben also said that he was able to lead a few thousand people in Yanzhou in the Ming Dynasty to fight against the Central Plains warlord Zhang Shicheng for such a long time. As long as he is willing to help the Southern Dynasty, it will not be a difficult matter to eliminate the traitor Ashikaga Yoshimitsu of the Northern Dynasty in the future!" Tanaka Nobuyuki added in a bewitching tone.

There was no way out. Under the rule of the shogunate family Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, it was completely impossible for the Tanaka family to have a chance to make a breakthrough.

The only way to break the impasse is to allow a more powerful person from outside to come in and kill with a borrowed knife!
"Hmm," Emperor Changqing said in a thoughtful voice.

After a moment, he looked at Kobayashi Yoshihiko and said:
"Xiaolin-kun, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, I think what Tanaka said makes sense." Kobayashi Yoshihiko slowly laid out the reason: "This General Li is young and hot-tempered. He must have had some misunderstanding with the Fujiwara clan on Fukue Island during his journey to Japan, and this misunderstanding led to a conflict between the two sides.

Now that the Fujiwara clan has been wiped out, even if we help them get back their position, what can we do? We can't offend General Li, who has tens of thousands of elite soldiers, just for a family that doesn't trust the Emperor, right?
According to the information sent back by my subordinates, this batch of Ming navy has many weapons that we have never seen before. These weapons can help us counterattack and return to Kyoto.

"Why not beat the rebellious ministers headed by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and use the power of the Ming Dynasty to do things for Your Majesty?"

Now that the three people gave him the same advice, Emperor Nagayoshi had to think seriously about it.

Looking back, he was once the legitimate emperor of Kyoto, but now he was forced by a shogunate to move to another place.

At this moment, except for a few people around him, most of the others were unwilling to submit to him.

It was only for the sake of face that they obeyed the orders of the emperor, who had no real power.

What Emperor Chokei could not tolerate the most was that his sister-in-law, Hojo clan, Hojo Maki, was now in the harem of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Emperor Chokei was a guy who loved mature women. When he was a child, he was not liked by his father and his mother died early. The female elders who took care of him included the widow of his eldest brother who had died on the battlefield long ago, Hojo Maki, a woman from the Hojo clan who married into the imperial family.

Unfortunately, when evacuating Kyoto, Hojo Maki got separated from the main group. By the time he heard about his sister-in-law, he had already learned that she had become one of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's concubines.

Many things only require flexibility and changes, and then solutions will be found.

This is the situation right now.

Emperor Chokei could not accept that Li Wenzhong had occupied Fukue Island without telling him anything, but he could not allow Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to occupy the royal territory.

The end of him, the legitimate emperor, was to go into exile.

Why is it that he is the emperor of the Great Japanese Empire and possesses the three sacred artifacts passed down by Amaterasu, but he is not allowed to return to Kyoto and have his sister-in-law stay by his side to take care of him?

In order to return to the orthodox position, Emperor Nagayoshi decided to temporarily cooperate with Li Wenzhong, just as his two advisers and Master Nemoto had said.

This kind of thing was something his predecessors did frequently anyway, so it wouldn't be a very strange move even if he did it.

After the matter is accomplished, he only wants Kyoto!

"Soga! In that case, let's do as Mr. Kobayashi said. Who should go to Fukue Island and tell General Li about this?"

Now that things have been decided, it remains to be seen who will go to Fukue Island.

This is a task that can be big or small. If done well, it can promote good relations between the two countries. If done poorly, it will be quite dangerous.

And so far, they don't fully understand Li Wenzhong's temper.

"Your Majesty! General Li is a military man. If you let me go, I will definitely be able to maintain reasonable communication with General Li!" Nobuyuki Tanaka took the initiative to step forward.

Emperor Chokei was immediately extremely happy.

"Tanaka-kun is indeed a samurai of Great Japan! I will prepare a batch of gifts tomorrow and let you take them to Fukue Island!
Didn't they say they were coming? We should prepare in advance, and you should bring gifts to greet them in advance and tell them my attitude. "

(End of this chapter)