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Western missionaries once went to Japan to preach, and the Japanese told them that if they could convince the Ming people to believe in their God, then we would believe in it. If the Ming people did not believe in it, then we would not believe in it either.
In this era, apart from other things, just in terms of cultural beliefs, the Japanese absolutely admire China from the bottom of their hearts, and they are quite willing to follow China's lead.
With the rise of the Qin Empire and its rapid victory over Western countries in naval battles, the Japanese became more awed by the Qin Empire. During the Edo Rebellion, even Yui Masayuki, who started the rebellion, did not dare to harm the merchants of the Qin Empire at will. Even the ambassador to Japan, Wei Zhengdao, had not thought of this beforehand.
There is a widely circulated legend among the Japanese people today, which says that the ancestors of the Japanese were the three thousand boys and girls brought by Xu Fu, who was sent by the First Emperor of Qin during the pre-Qin period.
It is said that last year, someone dug out a broken stone tablet from the ground near the capital. The stone tablet was engraved with small seal characters and recorded this incident.
After the stone tablet was unearthed, word spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, until it became known throughout Japan.
Now this stone tablet has been bought by Wei Zhengdao, the Qin ambassador to Japan, for five hundred dragon coins and is kept in the embassy.
The Daqin embassy is located on Fengdeng Street in the southeast of Edo City, not far from the shogunate. It covers an area of more than ten acres and consists of many Suzhou-style buildings with an elegant garden behind them.
Because there were still ronin causing chaos from time to time in Edo City, the entire city was under martial law. The shogunate was worried that ronin would attack the Qin embassy and cause Qin's dissatisfaction, so there was a guard every three steps and a sentry every five steps outside the embassy, guarding it day and night.
In the darkness of night, the sound of a piano could be heard faintly from the embassy. Sakai Tadakatsu, who was nearly 65 years old, with white hair and beard, was sipping tea and listening to the piano with his eyelids drooped.
He was a senior official in the Tokugawa shogunate. The senior official was responsible for assisting the shogun in managing government affairs. His position was higher than that of the senior official, so it was the highest temporary position.
Usually there is only one person in this position, who is exempt from the daily affairs of the assessment office and only participates in administration when the general makes important decisions.
Wei Zhengdao was about 40 years old and could speak fluent Japanese. He was wearing a black Confucian suit and looked very elegant. He sat opposite Sakai Tadakatsu.
"You are worthy of being the backbone of the shogunate. If you hadn't reacted quickly and made good arrangements, the consequences would have been disastrous. Please, sir!"
Wei Zhengdao held the tea in one hand and covered it with the other, his sleeves fluttering. He sat forward and bowed slightly to offer the tea. He was elegant and polite, making people feel like they were in the spring breeze.
Sakai Tadakatsu also returned the gift by offering tea, covering his face with his sleeve and taking a sip.
Wei Zhengdao's words were very helpful to him, and he replied, "You are too kind, Ambassador. I was entrusted by the general to take care of the orphan, and I just did my duty. This time I failed to foresee the rebellion and frightened the Ambassador. This time, I came to apologize to the Ambassador."
"Thank you for coming here in person. I really don't deserve it. But there is one thing I don't understand, and I would like to ask you."
"How dare I give you advice in front of the ambassador? If you have anything to say, please speak frankly."
"Master, this time the ronin rebellion caused many casualties in Edo and almost overthrew the shogunate. Such rebellious people should be executed along with their entire clan to serve as a warning to others.
However, I have heard that the shogunate intends to turn a blind eye to these rebels and appease them. This move has puzzled me, and there are also voices of doubt in the market, wondering if the shogunate is unable to wipe out these rebels. "
"This is absolutely not what I meant." Speaking of this, Sakai Tadakatsu snorted coldly on the spot regardless of his loss of composure.
Wei Zhengdao sighed as if he hadn't seen it, "These are the internal affairs of the shogunate. As an envoy of the Great Qin, I shouldn't interfere. But now that the trade between the two countries is getting closer and closer, and more and more people from the Great Qin are traveling to Japan, I can't help but feel a little worried."
Wei Zhengdao spoke very measuredly, only making the point, but his subtext was very clear, that is, if the shogunate adopted a policy of appeasement in this rebellion, people would inevitably doubt whether the shogunate was no longer capable of suppressing the rebellion;
If the Japanese people all hold this skeptical attitude, will the daimyo in various places still obey the Edo shogunate in the future? If Japan is in chaos, the merchants of Daqin will inevitably be affected.
At the same time, Wei Zhengdao pretended not to know the differences among several ministers of the shogunate, which was tantamount to supporting Sakai Tadakatsu in disguise.
Whether or not he can get the support of Daqin is very important to Sakai Tadanori now, because although the position of the elder is higher in status than that of the elder, he does not usually participate in government affairs. The military and political affairs of the shogunate Japan are usually handled by the elders.
"Rochu" was an official directly under the Shogun, responsible for supervising national affairs; in normal times, Rochu was actually the highest official in the shogunate.
Usually there are four to five roju, who take turns to manage different affairs on a monthly basis. In principle, they are selected from hereditary daimyo with a territory of more than 25,000 koku.
Among the four ministers entrusted with the care of the young emperor, Abe Tadayuki and Matsudaira Nobunaga both hold the position of elder councilor. There are also two elder councilors who are not ministers entrusted with the care of the young emperor, namely Abe Shigetsugu and Matsudaira Nobihisa.
Among them, Abe Shigetsugu is the cousin of Abe Tadayuki, which means that among the four elders of the shogunate, two are from the Abe family.
Under such circumstances, it was necessary for Sakai Tadakatsu to seek help from outside forces to strengthen his voice in the shogunate. This was also the reason why he chose this time to personally visit the Daqin embassy.
After hearing what Wei Zhengdao said, Sakai Tadakatsu was secretly happy. He talked with Wei Zhengdao privately for a long time before leaving the embassy with satisfaction.
As soon as he left, Huang Zhiqiu, a centurion stationed in Japan by Yebushou, soon showed up. He put out a teacup and made a cup of tea.
Wei Zhengdao asked softly, "Huang Baihu, how is the situation going?"
Huang Zhiqiu smiled and replied, "There is martial law in Edo now, and soldiers are patrolling everywhere. It is difficult to arrange. I have thought about it. If we just burn the goods, it will inevitably arouse suspicion. The ambassador does not allow us to hurt anyone. This is really difficult to do."
"As the ambassador to Japan, one of my main responsibilities is to ensure the safety of the people of Daqin in Japan. How can I harm the lives of the people of Daqin? As the saying goes, paper cannot cover fire. If I really do this, and the news gets back to the court in the future, I'm afraid neither you nor I will have a good ending."
"Haha, Ambassador Wei, don't be impatient. Without your approval, I dare not act recklessly."
Wei Zhengdao looked at him seriously. Ye Bushou acted as secretively as a ghost. Even he, the ambassador to Japan, knew very little about him. He was really afraid that he would do something reckless without telling him.
This time he intended to have Ye Bushou disguised as a ronin, attack Daqin merchants, and destroy their goods, so that Daqin could take the opportunity to intervene. As Huang Zhiqiu said, if they only attacked Daqin merchants and destroyed their goods without killing anyone, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
"Huang Baihu, do you have no other solution? This matter is of great importance. Once the whereabouts of the North Sea Fleet are discovered by the Japanese, it will be even more difficult to gain people's trust."
Huang Zhiqiu looked at Wei Zhengdao and laughed. That look made Wei Zhengdao a little nervous. He couldn't help but ask, "Captain Huang, what do you mean?"
"Ambassador Wei is a gentleman who does not want to hurt innocent people. Now it seems that Ambassador Wei will have to be wronged this time."
Seeing him say that, Wei Zhengdao calmed down and said calmly, "What does Captain Huang plan to do?"
"If we want Japan to believe that we didn't do it, and if we want to give Daqin enough reasons to intervene, there are only two ways. One is to attack our Daqin merchants and cause casualties, and there are more than one..."
"no!"
"Ambassador Wei, don't get excited. Listen to what I have to say. Another solution is to make Ambassador Wei suffer. If you want to avoid casualties, then only if Ambassador Wei is attacked and injured, then our Great Qin will have enough reason to intervene."
After hearing this, Wei Zhengdao said calmly without giving it much thought: "Okay, go and make the arrangements."
The ambassador represents the Qin court. If the ambassador is attacked, even if he is just injured, it will be a serious diplomatic incident, which is indeed enough for Qin to intervene.
Huang Zhiqiu secretly admired him, but still had a joking expression on his face as he said, "I knew Ambassador Wei would definitely stand up. Haha, things have been arranged, but I want to tell Ambassador Wei that this time our people took the opportunity to act, the scene will be very chaotic, and Ambassador Wei's life will be in danger. I can only promise that I will try my best to protect the ambassador."
"What's going on?"
"Here's what happened. We got a piece of news that the ronin hiding in the city will launch another round of attacks tomorrow night. Ambassador Wei will happen to pass by the scene at that time..."
*****************************(To be continued...)
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