The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 404 Toyotomi Hideyoshi is really anxious
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was really anxious.

Tokugawa Ieyasu didn't seem to be in a hurry.

It was already past twilight and the sky was gradually getting dark when Li Yuansheng quietly came to the Tokugawa army camp outside Nagoya Castle.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was actually sitting leisurely in his tent, sipping tea.

Oda Nobunaga loved drinking tea, and Tokugawa Ieyasu also loved drinking tea. The two were allies and often drank tea together. This was well known to everyone in Japan.

It is said that when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still a general under Oda Nobunaga, he pretended to love drinking tea and even built a golden teahouse specifically for inviting Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu to taste tea.

Li Yuansheng naturally knew that Tokugawa Ieyasu loved drinking tea, so he specially brought a jar of top-quality bud tea to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Tokugawa Ieyasu naturally accepted it with a smile. He raised his hand and said, "Kapitan, you are very polite. Please take a seat. Come and try the tea I made."

Li Yuansheng was born a pirate, so how could he know how to taste tea? He simply sat down at the table, picked up the teacup and drank it in one gulp, then nodded repeatedly and said, "Good tea, good tea."

This guy is just drinking like a cow.

Tokugawa Ieyasu smiled and shook his head, then asked, "Kapitan, since you've come from Ming this time, have you heard about the war situation in Korea, your vassal state?"

Sure enough, you are just pretending to be calm, but in fact you also want to figure out what the current situation is.

Li Yuansheng said straightforwardly, "I've asked the powerful figures above me about this. They said that Korea, a vassal state, has been recovered, and almost all of your hundreds of thousands of troops have been captured."

When Tokugawa Ieyasu heard this, the hand holding the teacup paused.

The hundreds of thousands of troops sent by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the vassal states were all gone!

What if the Ming Kingdom takes the opportunity to attack?
He pretended to be calm and continued to drink the tea in his cup. Then he asked, "Do you know how many troops the Ming army dispatched this time?"

I know, but I can't tell you. I'm not a traitor.

Li Yuansheng shook his head repeatedly and said, "I'm not sure about this, but someone above me mentioned that the Ming Dynasty has dispatched a large number of border troops to reinforce Korea, a vassal state. The Northern Tartars seem to be getting ready to make a move again. Therefore, it is very likely that His Majesty the Emperor will choose to negotiate a withdrawal."

The Ming Dynasty wants to withdraw its troops?
so far so good.

Tokugawa Ieyasu reassured, "Are you sure that your Emperor will choose to negotiate and withdraw his troops?"

Do I need to be sure?

It's you who should be anxious now.

Li Yuansheng pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Do you still want to continue fighting?"

Are you kidding? If we continue to fight the Ming army, we will have to reach the Japanese mainland.

Tokugawa Ieyasu slowly shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant. I just wanted to confirm whether your Emperor really wants to negotiate."

You just like to act calm.

Li Yuansheng explained, "My superiors are very powerful now, so what he said is probably accurate. You can ask your Highness the Grand Duke. If you want to negotiate, I can send someone with your envoy to the capital of the Ming Dynasty to introduce you to an emperor."

Do you still dare to send someone to recommend me?
Tokugawa Ieyasu was quite curious and asked, "Aren't you afraid that your people will be chopped off by your emperor? Last time, Shen Weijing was tortured and then chopped off."

Can I be like Shen Weijing?

Li Yuansheng slowly shook his head and said, "I am different from Shen Weijing and the others. Shen Weijing and the others conspired with Toyotomi Hideyoshi to betray the Ming Dynasty.

I'm just a businessman, and you're my big client, so I'll do my best to help you. I wouldn't betray the Ming Dynasty even if you asked me to. I'm only trying to help you because I see you have no plans for the Ming Dynasty."

This is true.

Tokugawa Ieyasu had no plans for the Ming Dynasty, he just wanted to control Japan.

Historically, after he took control of Japan, he began to close the country to the outside world. He just wanted to live a peaceful life in Japan.

This is also the reason why most Japanese pirates in later generations looked down on him.

Because his actions were inconsistent with the aggressive nature of the Japanese pirates.

Most Japanese pirates in later generations were not impressed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who successfully defeated the Toyotomi clan and established the Edo Shogunate, which ruled Japan for two or three hundred years.

He is far less famous than the aggressive Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Even during World War II, the Japanese pirates followed Toyotomi Hideyoshi's expansion strategy, first invading Korea, a vassal state, and then plotting to take over China and even dominate the world.

It can be said that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the object of worship for the aggressive Japanese pirates.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's status in the eyes of most Japanese pirates was far lower than that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

However, this guy is indeed the only person in Japan who has a chance of defeating Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

That's why Wanli wanted to provoke this guy to take action, start a civil war, and seize control of Japan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu did have the same idea at this time.

However, he was still relatively calm. He would not launch a civil war to seize control of Japan until the threat from the Ming Dynasty was eliminated.

He thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly and said, "Well, you are indeed different from Shen Weijing and his gang. Otherwise, you wait a while and don't go back. I will go and ask His Highness Taiko's opinion."

Okay, I'll go and find out what's going on in Japan right now.

The next morning, around noon, when the sun had already risen, Tokugawa Ieyasu finally arrived at Nagoya Castle to look for Toyotomi Hideyoshi. At this point, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was truly anxious, fearing that the Ming army would take advantage of the situation and attack him.

In the past, if Tokugawa Ieyasu came, he would pretend to drink tea with him.

At this moment, he was holding the teacup in a restless mood, and the tea had already gone cold but he hadn't drunk it yet.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, however, was sipping tea leisurely, as if nothing had happened.

Neither of them spoke, seemingly just sipping tea.

It is unknown what Toyotomi Hideyoshi was thinking, but Tokugawa Ieyasu was secretly despising him in his heart.

You nasty monkey, now you know how to be anxious.

Tokugawa Ieyasu looked down on Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who came from a poor family, from the bottom of his heart.

He came from an orthodox powerful family. The Tokugawa clan originated from the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province, and the Matsudaira clan originated from the Fujiwara clan, a powerful family in Japan that existed for more than a thousand years.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born into the lowest class of poor people and didn't even have a surname at the beginning.

This guy is good at plotting and scheming.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was tricked by this guy when he was fighting for control of the Oda clan, and he still holds a grudge against him.

If he had controlled the Oda clan at the beginning, with the combination of the two powers, Japan would have been his world long ago.

After being tricked by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he became more calm and would stay calm unless he was sure of a chance.

Therefore, he remained patient and waited for Toyotomi Hideyoshi to lead his army to invade the vassal states of Korea and Ming.

He knew very well that with Japan's national strength, it was impossible to defeat the Ming Dynasty. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was destined to fail. Once Toyotomi Hideyoshi failed, his opportunity would come.

However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi regarded the vassal states of Korea and the Ming Dynasty as local powers such as Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan. He sent envoys with letters to urge them to pay tribute, and threatened to send troops to conquer them if they refused.

This guy's trick works well in Japan, but it doesn't work on the vassal state of Korea. And it would be humiliating to use it on the powerful Ming Dynasty.

He knew that Toyotomi Hideyoshi would fail, but he didn't say it. He used the excuse of suppressing the Kanto rebellion as an excuse not to send troops.

Now that Toyotomi Hideyoshi has been defeated, his opportunity has come. As long as he can negotiate with the Ming Dynasty to withdraw his troops, he can take action.

He sipped his tea leisurely before speaking in a casual tone, "Your Highness, Ryukyu merchants have sent news that the Ming Empire seems to have conquered Korea, a vassal state. It seems that hundreds of thousands of our troops have been captured by the Ming army."

This guy even deliberately blamed the Ryukyu merchants.

In fact, he just didn't want to reveal that the Kapitan was doing business with him.

After all, the merchants in the Ryukyu Kingdom were all running small businesses, which could not be compared with the Kapitan, who was a big pirate who could sell strategic materials in large quantities.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi heard this, he couldn't help but feel anxious.

However, he suppressed his panic and sighed softly, "News has also come from the Ming Kingdom. The most elite Ming army's Beijing battalion has returned. They also took a group of our people and moved into the Ten Princes' Palace in the Ming capital.

It seems that the vassal state of Korea has truly been conquered by the Ming Empire. Our army was most likely captured by the Ming army. Those living in the Ten Princes' Palaces are probably the daimyo and generals who led the troops."

Tokugawa Ieyasu said with a rather disgusted look of evil amusement: "Your Highness, are we still going to continue the fight?"

Are you mentally ill?
Toyotomi Hideyoshi slowly shook his head and said, "We can't continue this battle."

You also know that this battle cannot be fought anymore?

Tokugawa Ieyasu said calmly, "A message has reached us from merchants in the Ryukyu Kingdom: the Ming Dynasty has withdrawn too many border troops for this battle, causing instability on the northern border. The Ming Emperor wants to negotiate a withdrawal. What is Your Highness's opinion?"

Is there such a thing?
Does the Ming Emperor really want to negotiate and withdraw his troops?

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a little flustered at the moment and had no time to think about it.

In fact, it was he who was mentally ill at the moment, not Tokugawa Ieyasu.

He was quite desperate and said, "Under such circumstances, peace talks would be the best option."

I knew you wanted to negotiate.

Tokugawa Ieyasu remained calm and said, "The Ryukyu merchants said that if we are willing to negotiate, they can send someone to lead the way."

Lead the way?

Last time, Shen Weijing was tortured and then chopped to pieces by the Ming Emperor.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was quite surprised and asked, "They dare to lead our envoys to the Ming Kingdom for peace talks?"

This guy's mind was in a mess. He never thought that the merchants from the Ryukyu Kingdom were so capable.

I'd better explain it, lest the threat from the Ming Dynasty disappears and you remember the trick again. I can't let you know that the Kapitan is doing business with me.

Tokugawa Ieyasu nodded slowly and said, "They must have come here on the orders of the Ryukyu King. The Ryukyu Kingdom and the Ming Dynasty have a very good relationship. The Ming Emperor must have hinted to the Ryukyu King to act as this middleman. Otherwise, the Ryukyu merchants would not have brought so much news for no apparent reason."

Oh, that's what happened.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, then let the Ryukyu merchants take our envoys to the Ming Kingdom for peace talks."

(End of this chapter)