There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 483 Samo
Shuri Castle, the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom, was taken over by the Han army, and all the royal family and ministers were captured.

Led by Han Chinese nobles from Kume Village, including Tang Rongji, the Han army split into several groups and successively captured present-day Kijin Castle (Kitayama Castle) and the Naha region.

The Ryukyu Garrison Commander's Office in Naha, established by the Satsuma Domain, was directly destroyed by the Han army using firepower. Those Satsuma Domain samurai must have seen firearms before, but they had never seen such powerful firearms as those of the Han army.

They never miss, are incredibly powerful, have a high rate of fire, and some can even explode.

In just three days, the Han army had basically taken control of the Shimajiri (Naha), Nakagami (Shuri), and Kunigami (Kitayama) areas of the Ryukyu Islands.

This is already considered slow, because the Ryukyu Kingdom was too small. Although it was called a kingdom, its territory and population were at most the size of a county in China.

It was precisely because the country was so small that even Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor) felt a little embarrassed and could only bestow upon the title of Prince of the County as a token gesture.

At least the princes in Korea were all vassal princes, and Annam was also a vassal prince, but Annam was incredibly audacious and dared to secretly declare himself emperor.

Xu Mingyu destroyed the Ryukyu Kingdom in three days, which was too efficient. It made it difficult for him to find a puppet king of the Shang family bloodline for a while.

When the Ryukyu dynasty changed hands, the true descendants of the Shō clan were either wiped out by the false kings of Ryukyu, or faded into obscurity over the centuries.

After two days, Tang Rongji, the Han Chinese leader of Kume Village, claimed to have found a descendant of the Shang family from the First Dynasty.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, Xu Mingyu believed it and directly appointed this so-called orphan of the Shang family as the new king of Ryukyu, in accordance with the emperor's decree.

then……

The new king boarded a special official ship and went to Nanjing to pay homage to the Han emperor and express his gratitude.
They wanted to take the entire family of the false king to Nanjing for trial and punishment.

Of course, this was a real trip to be tried and to pay homage. Nie Yu had no intention of sinking the ship, as that would be too easy to spot, and he really didn't need to do it.

Zhu Yuanzhang killed the Little Ming King for the sake of the throne, which is understandable.

Nie Yu had absolutely no need to kill the Ryukyu king. The Ryukyu Kingdom was a tiny, insignificant place, barely the size of a palm. If it weren't for its important strategic position at sea, no one would even consider going to such a remote and impoverished overseas country.

The reason why the Ryukyu king was invited to Nanjing for an audience was to make it more legitimate and to save face for the Han Dynasty.

According to the civil officials, Your Majesty can destroy a country and establish a county, and the reasons are quite sufficient. However, Ryukyu is ultimately a vassal state of China, so we cannot really take a hard line. We must at least put on a show to reassure the other vassal states.

The news of the fall of Ryukyu spread very quickly, and the first to know was the Shimazu family of the Satsuma Domain in the north.

The current lord of the Satsuma Domain is Shimazu Nariaki, who is also the grandfather of Atsuhime (Tenshoin). However, the actual power in the Satsuma Domain is held by Kazusa no Kami Shimazu Shigehiro, who has been retired and living in seclusion for more than ten years.

This is also a tradition in Japan. Basically, powerful nobles, daimyo, and even shoguns and emperors like to abdicate while they are still alive and then become retired emperors to continue to hold power.

Simply put, it's like in Japan, everyone is a low-budget version of Emperor Qianlong and Emperor Jiaqing.

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan, he first abdicated and became Taiko, making his nephew Kanpaku (regent). However, because he wielded too much power, he forced his nephew to his death.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the same; after serving as shogun for two years, he abdicated in favor of his son and became the chief shogun, continuing to wield power.

The current political situation in the Satsuma Domain is actually very similar to that of the Qing Dynasty.

Lord Shimazu Nariakira was a man of frugality and admired the scholars and retainers of the Neo-Confucian school of thought. However, Shimazu Shigehiro, who was nominally retired and in seclusion, was fond of luxury and had a strong admiration for Western Rangaku (Dutch studies).

Historically, due to the issue of reform, Shimazu Shigehiro disapproved of Shimazu Nariakiro's Neo-Confucian reforms, so he forced his son to abdicate and retire, allowing his grandson to succeed as the lord of the Satsuma Domain.

Kagoshima Castle, Satsuma Domain.

"The Qing emperor has sent troops and conquered the Ryukyu Kingdom?" Shimazu Shigehiro looked at the soldier who came to deliver the news, his old face filled with disbelief.

The messenger shook his head: "No, Lord Kazusa no Kami is not the Qing Emperor. Lord Saemon said that it's not a Qing ship. He recognizes the characters on it; they seem to be written in Chinese characters. It should be the ship of the Han Emperor." "The Han Emperor..." Shimazu Shigehiro muttered, frowning.

Compared to the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was completely clueless, the Satsuma Domain clearly had its own information channels. As one of the few daimyo that continued to secretly engage in foreign trade after Japan closed itself off from the world, it was a different domain.

The Shimazu family possessed a comprehensive business intelligence system, enabling them to obtain various intelligence from Qing China through merchants from different countries. They might even know some of this intelligence better than the Qing emperor himself.

Shimazu Shigehiro didn't know much about the Han Dynasty, but he was aware that it was a powerful rebel force within the Qing Dynasty, and could even be considered a state.

Because this Han state had already occupied half of the Qing Dynasty's territory and was a country that highly respected Han Chinese legal system, the Japanese, who generally admired the Sinocentric view, actually had a more favorable impression of the Han state.

"Is the news that the Han Kingdom has conquered Ryukyu true?" Shimazu Shigehiro asked again to confirm.

The messenger replied, "We dare not deceive you. Our magistrate's office in Naha has been wiped out by the Han army. They specially released me to come back and inform the governor of Kazusa and the head of the family!"

Shimazu Shigehiro sat cross-legged, and before he could speak, his retainers below began to murmur amongst themselves.

After Shimazu Shigehiro retired, Akamatsu Sake, a senior retainer entrusted with the administration of the domain, spoke first: "Your Excellency Kazusa-no-kami and Your Excellency Iechi-no-kami, the Han Kingdom has launched an attack on Ryukyu without consulting us. We should immediately mobilize a large fleet to drive out these Han Kingdom troops."

After Akamatsu finished speaking, another senior retainer, Ichida Moritsugu, chimed in, "Lord Akamatsu is right. The Han army has occupied Ryukyu, and as the protector of Ryukyu, our Satsuma Domain should send troops to drive them out."

Shimazu Shigehiro did not immediately respond to the suggestions of his two senior retainers.

The puppet head of the Satsuma clan, Shimazu Nariaki, who had been listening in, couldn't help but say, "Lord Kazusa-no-kami, I don't think we should send troops. The Satsuma Domain is currently heavily indebted and relies entirely on trade with Ryukyu to make up for it. If we rashly send troops to fight the Han army, even if we win, we will suffer considerable losses."

Akamatsu Sake said coldly, "Your Excellency is far too cowardly. Ryukyu is the Ryukyu of my Satsuma Domain. If the Han army has conquered it, they should be driven out and eliminated."

Ichida Moritsune also said, "Moreover, not only that, His Excellency the Head of the Satsuma Domain also said that our Satsuma Domain is in dire financial straits and relies entirely on trade with Ryukyu for subsidies. If Ryukyu is conquered by the Han Chinese army, where will these trade subsidies come from?"

The two of them, speaking in unison, left Shimazu Nariaki speechless.

It wasn't that he had nothing to say, but rather that these two were his father Shimazu Shigehiro's confidants, and without Shimazu Shigehiro's permission, Shimazu Nariaki didn't really have that much power.

It will take at least several more years before Shimazu Nariakiro feels confident enough to challenge the other party and seize power, only to be swiftly dethroned by his father, Shimazu Shigehiro.

Seeing that his son had nothing to say, Shimazu Shigehiro didn't seem to mind. Instead, he looked at Matsui Okawa, who hadn't spoken yet, and asked, "Matsui-kun, do you think we should send troops?"

Matsui Okawa was not only one of Shimazu Shigetaka's most important retainers, but also his absolute confidant, responsible for reporting on the situation in Western countries, participating in foreign trade, and helping Shimazu Shigetaka obtain materials on Rangaku (Dutch studies).

When Matsunami Ōkawa heard his lord's question, he thought for a moment and said, "I think we can send troops, but we cannot fight."

Shimazu Shigehiro didn't speak, gesturing for Matsushita Okawa to continue.

Matsui Taikawa said, "Your Excellency, what Akai-kun and Ichida-kun said makes sense. If our Satsuma Domain does nothing when the Han army comes to Ryukyu, it will certainly damage the prestige of the Satsuma Domain and the dignity of the Shimazu family."

"But if we really fight, let's not even talk about whether we can win. Han is not the Satsuma Domain, and it is definitely more powerful than my Satsuma Domain. Even if we win once, what will happen next? If war breaks out, my Satsuma Domain's financial debt will definitely become more serious. It will be a losing proposition."

"Moreover, these are not the main points. The real point is that the Satsuma Domain's occupation of Ryukyu is intolerable to the shogunate. Normally, the shogunate shouldn't care, but if things escalate and the Han Kingdom negotiates with the shogunate, what will happen to the Shimazu family?"

Good heavens, that's a wake-up call for everyone. The Satsuma Domain has controlled Ryukyu for so long that we almost forgot they were illegally occupying land.

The shogunate strictly prohibited daimyo from engaging in foreign trade, not to mention that the Satsuma Domain had directly annexed Ryukyu.

Previously, the Satsuma Domain obtained a certain degree of authorization and permission from the shogunate through political marriages and sending money to the shogunate.

However, as long as the Satsuma Domain cannot continue to generate revenue for the shogunate, or even if it goes to war with the Chinese army over Ryukyu, the shogunate will definitely betray the Satsuma Domain and the Shimazu family first.

(End of this chapter)