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Huang Zhenlin made full preparations before going to the Chengxi Posthouse to meet the Japanese envoy Satoda Ichiro.
This time Huang Zhenlin came with two missions: first, to make Japan a vassal state of the Qin Dynasty; second, to make Japan open trading ports to the Qin Dynasty and allow Qin's goods to enter Japan.
Compared with the first task, the second task is actually more important.
At this time, Japan's population has exceeded 20 million. It is the largest market in East Asia except for Daqin, and also the market with the most purchasing power.
Daqin's textile industry has already been established, and the price of cloth is falling. If overseas markets cannot be opened up, it will deal a serious blow to the textile industry in its infancy.
The so-called commercial revolution cannot be driven solely by Emperor Qin Mu.
There must be incentives to allow business owners to gain huge profits, which can motivate them to engage in industry. Expanding overseas markets is an urgent matter.
It has been ten days since Satoda Ichiro arrived in Nanjing, but no one has paid attention to him, which makes him feel a little unhappy.
Huang Zhenlin, dressed in a solemn and dignified official uniform with auspicious clouds embroidered on a black background, walked into the post station with square steps. The words "Celestial Empire" were clearly written on his face, just like those officials of the Ming Dynasty who looked down on the barbarians from a high position.
Japanese official uniforms are divided into purple, scarlet, green, and light blue according to the rank. The most noble Japanese nobles wear black. The rest wear red. In the shogunate era, only the fourth rank and above, including the duke, can wear black robes, and the fifth rank can wear crimson robes with black silk crowns.
Satoda Ichiro was one of the five officials. When he saw Huang Zhenlin in a black official robe, he was really scared.
The two sides exchanged polite greetings, and then Huang Zhenlin sat down in the main seat and asked arrogantly, "Your Excellency has come here to pay tribute to our Great Qin?"
Satoda Ichiro bowed and replied, "Our country heard that the Emperor of Qin ascended the throne. We specially sent this envoy to come and congratulate you." Satoda Ichiro temporarily held back his attitude towards Huang Zhenlin.
"I heard that there seem to be two kings in Japan, one in Kyoto and one in Edo. I wonder if you were sent here by Kyoto or Edo?"
When Satoda Ichiro heard this, he secretly despised Huang Zhenlin's ignorance. He explained briefly: "Mr. Huang has misunderstood. Japan has only one emperor, who lives in Kyoto. The Tokugawa Shogun in Edo is in charge of the government of the country under the order of the emperor. There is no such thing as two emperors as Mr. Huang said."
"Why did your king give the military and political power to the shogun? Isn't this a loss of power?"
"this... ... .."
It is hard to say that Satoda Ichiro was the shogunate who had sidelined the emperor. According to Confucianism, sidelining the monarch was tantamount to treason and usurpation of power.
He was unable to answer for a moment, so Huang Zhenlin guessed cleverly, "But the king of your country is still young, so you asked the Shogun of the Edo Shogunate to be the regent?"
"That's right, that's right." Satoda Ichiro, who didn't know how to explain, immediately followed Huang Zhenlin's meaning and explained: "The Emperor of Japan is still young and has not yet reached the age of ruling the country, so the Shogun is acting as regent."
"That's good. If your Excellency hadn't explained it, I would have thought that the Shogun was a traitor."
"Master Huang has misunderstood. The Emperor of Japan has just turned fourteen this year, so the Shogun is acting as regent."
Satoda Ichiro thought he had found the best excuse, but he didn't know it was a trap set by Huang Zhenlin.
Daqin does not have the energy to deal with Japan now, so you can be the "regent", but when the emperor grows up in the future, you should return the power.
If you do not return the government by then, Daqin can use this as an excuse to label the shogun as a traitor and punish him if it feels necessary.
Huang Zhenlin changed the subject and said, "Some merchants from Daqin claimed that Japan banned other countries from trading with Japan. What's going on?"
Making Japan pay tribute is only a secondary task. The primary purpose of Huang Zhenlin's visit this time is to make Japan open its doors to Daqin and allow Daqin's goods to enter Japan freely.
Japan has been closed to the outside world for only about ten years. At first, trade between Japan and Southeast Asian countries was prosperous. In order to further expand trade, the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, acquiesced to the spread of Christianity by Western missionaries in Japan. Later, Christianity spread in Japan at an alarming speed. Within a few years, the number of believers expanded to about 700,000, and the momentum continued to expand.
This situation made Tokugawa Ieyasu very worried, so he issued a ban on Christianity in Japan, exiled missionaries, and executed Christians.
Later, a policy of isolation was simply issued, which explicitly prohibited Japanese from leaving the country, prohibited Japanese abroad from returning to the country, and prohibited trade with foreigners.
When Zheng Zhilong wanted to bring his wife, Ms. Tanaka, back to Fujian, he was unable to do so because of this ban. It took Zheng Zhilong several years and he mobilized all his connections in Japan before he finally brought Ms. Tanaka to Fujian.
Huang Zhenlin had already known all these things clearly from Zheng Zhilong, but he just pretended not to know.
Satoda Ichiro did not hide this and explained the reason to Huang Zhenlin again.
Huang Zhenlin immediately asked: "Since Japan wants to stop the Western Barbarians from preaching, why do we also prohibit people from the Great Qin from going to Japan?"
Satoda Ichiro complained, "Sir Huang, our country has not completely banned foreign trade. We allow non-Christian countries such as Daqin, the Netherlands, and Korea to trade with us. It is just for the convenience of management that we stipulate that trade shall be conducted in Nagasaki."
What Sato said was true. In addition to the Port of Nagasaki, some local lords also traded with specific countries, including the trade between the So clan of Tsushima Domain and Korea, and the trade between the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain and the Ryukyu Kingdom.
But things are not that simple. In addition to stipulating Nagasaki as the only foreign trade port, Japan also imposed many trade restrictions.
For example, the Fengshu system required that ships going out to sea must have a document signed by a rojong (official) in addition to a red seal. Only privileged merchants could obtain such a permit.
There were also strict restrictions on the number of times foreign merchant ships could visit Nagasaki, as well as the types and quantities of goods they carried.
This means that if this situation is not broken, it will be impossible for Daqin's products to flow into Japan in large quantities.
After listening to Sato's explanation, Huang Zhenlin showed a surprised expression and said, "That's how it is. It turns out that Japan has also been infected by the heresy of Christianity."
"That's right," Satoda Ichiro echoed, "Christianity's heresy is contrary to the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. It only respects God but has no respect for elders. It violates moral principles and ethics. That's why we in Japan strictly prohibit its spread."
Huang Zhenlin, who had been defiant at first, immediately became like a fellow sufferer and shouted, "Great! Such heresy must not be allowed to spread, and my Great Qin will also strictly prohibit it. But blocking without clearing is not appropriate, Mr. Sato should have heard of the story of Dayu controlling the flood."
Huang Zhenlin even changed his address to Sato-kun, and his attitude also changed 180 degrees, which made Sata Touichiro feel very happy. It was like drinking a bowl of hot soup suddenly after being blown by cold wind for a long time. The contrast brought a particularly pleasant feeling.
Sato's favorable impression of Huang Zhenlin also doubled immediately. He bowed sincerely again and said, "Please give me some advice, Master Huang."
"As the saying goes, people's sentiments are like water, and we must follow the flow. The reason why people are bewitched by these fallacies is often because they are in a difficult and hopeless situation, so they turn to God, hoping to rely on the gods to bless them and get out of their predicament one day. Politicians need to provide targeted guidance."
The Japanese of this era still admired China very much. At least Sato felt that Huang Zhenlin's words were to the point. Most of the Christians in Japan were poor people from the lower class, which was exactly the same as what Huang Zhenlin said.
He bowed humbly again and asked for advice: "How can I relieve the pain? Please teach me, Master Huang. If it is effective, I will be very grateful to you, Master Huang."
Huang Zhenlin asked someone to bring tea and invited Sato to drink a cup of tea to make the atmosphere more harmonious. Then he talked freely: "First of all, we should strengthen the dissemination of Confucianism and Buddhism. We should strengthen exchanges with those countries that resist fallacies and heresies. Internally, we should truly consider the people, do more things that benefit the people's livelihood, and strive to improve the lives of the poor people. Only in this way can we win the support of the people.
As the saying goes, "A righteous man has many supporters, while an unrighteous man has few." With the support of the people, everything will be easy. Do you agree with me, Mr. Sato?"
Sato kept nodding and said, "Master Huang, what you said makes sense, it makes sense."
Huang Zhenlin went on to say: "The policy of isolation implemented by your country is obviously a policy of blocking without opening up. It is inappropriate, very inappropriate. Although it can block the spread of heresy, it will also make the country fall into difficulties. Mr. Sato, think about it, if there had not been exchanges with China for thousands of years and a lot of knowledge had been absorbed from it, would Japan have the civilization it has today?"
This is a fact. If Japan had not absorbed China's advanced culture, it might still be in a state of ignorance. So no matter whether Sato admits it or not, he agrees with Huang Zhenlin's statement in his heart.
Just agree. Huang Zhenlin continued, "It is right for your country to restrict trade with Christian countries. But as the saying goes, there is no stability without agriculture and no life without commerce. So while restricting trade with Christian countries, we must strengthen trade with other countries to make up for the commodity gap.
In this regard, our Great Qin and Japan are one and the same. We are willing to help Japan free of charge, strengthen exchanges with Japan in all aspects, relax trade restrictions, allow merchants from both countries to exchange what they have, make the Japanese market prosperous, and make the Japanese people live a prosperous life.
At the same time, we are willing to send Confucian masters to Japan to strengthen exchanges with Japanese scholars and spread Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi's teachings, so as to help Japan resist the influence of heretical theories. "
Qin Mu was just thinking about sending those people who insisted on Zhu Xi's and Cheng Yi's Neo-Confucianism to Japan. In order to strengthen its rule, the Japanese shogunate highly praised Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism. This move was a perfect match for them, making Sato Ichiro very happy.
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.(To be continued..)
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