Chapter 827: Something Out of Nothing, Creating a Card Out of Thin Air

Hai Zhongshi was completely different from Hence Hai Rui. As a Confucian scholar, Hai Zhongshi recognized that integrity was a virtue, but what was the use of integrity? The house was empty, he had nothing, he couldn't leave anything for his descendants, and he didn't even leave anything for Great Ming, only leaving a monument in history.

In Hai Zhongshi's eyes, Hence Hai Rui's moral loftiness was of no use at all!

The contradiction between Hence Hai Rui and Hai Zhongshi was not just a family contradiction, but a structural contradiction of "public" and "private" during the historical turning point.

The "public" that Hence Hai Rui insisted on was an idealized moral order, a moral loftiness;

While the "private" that Hai Zhongshi pursued was a realistic choice driven by economic rationality, driven by interests.

Who was right and who was wrong? It seems that standing in different positions would yield different answers.

Zhu Yijun didn't like Hai Zhongshi and didn't want to leave Hence Hai Rui's legacy to this unfilial son. The father was seriously ill and bedridden, but Hai Zhongshi used Hence Hai Rui's clean name and prestige to run businesses everywhere, and some government offices, because of Hence Hai Rui's great influence, chose to turn a blind eye.

According to Xu Jue's visits, Hai Zhongshi had been walking very close to Li Dan of Quanzhou Prefecture recently.

And this Li Dan of Quanzhou Prefecture was a famous merchant in Great Ming, mainly dealing in betel nuts, Siamese rice, cotton, cotton cloth, and other things. These were all "white goods."

In the past, Li Dan wanted to smuggle white goods because Great Ming's customs declaration was too slow, and there was corruption, leading to the actual tax rate being far higher than the nominal tax rate, and even higher than the private market, making it both expensive and troublesome, so many merchants chose the private market.

Now Li Dan was indeed doing legal business, but with Hai Zhongshi's relationship, who knew if Li Dan would do some illegal business? For example, opium, ayahuasca, raw silk, and other items strictly forbidden by the court.

Zhu Yijun chose to let the Hai clan of Qiongzhou re-select a child with both virtue and talent to come to the capital. In this way, neither Hai Zhongshi nor the child who inherited Hence Hai Rui's legacy could ruin Hence Hai Rui's name.

Because Hai Zhongshi ruined Hence Hai Rui's name, he was deprived of the right to inherit the family property by the Emperor, and various government offices also knew that the Emperor did not allow others to ruin Hence Hai Rui's name, so they would not provide this convenience to exchange Hence Hai Rui's clean name for money.

Hence Hai Rui's clean name and his morality were one of Great Ming's most precious treasures, the embodiment of the Han dynasty's continuous loyalty, and the greatest mystery of this ancient land of the Central Plains that remained fresh over time.

The matter of Wang Qian's promotion to Grand Censor of the Censorate eventually fell through. The Cabinet had two votes for and two votes against: Zhang Juzheng and Shen Li opposed, while Wang Chonggu and Zhang Xueyan supported.

Zhang Juzheng opposed Wang Qian holding multiple positions, saying Wang Qian could only hold one of Yanxing Tower and the Censorate. If Wang Qian was willing to give up Yanxing Tower, then holding the Censorate was not impossible; Zhang Xueyan recognized Wang Qian's ability and felt he could fully hold the Censorate concurrently;

Shen Li believed that Wang Qian was morally deficient and could not convince the public. After all, his status as a *juren* was indeed obtained through cheating;

Wang Chonggu's support was very unexpected. Originally, Wang Qian's promotion should have avoided suspicion, but Wang Chonggu held up the banner of "not avoiding relatives when recommending the worthy" and still posted a floating vote.

Quite unexpectedly, Wang Qian was supposed to avoid suspicion when being promoted, but Wang Chonggu, holding up the banner of "promoting the worthy without avoiding relatives," still posted the floating ballot.

The Cabinet's opinions were inconsistent, so it went to the court discussion. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites did not agree with Wang Qian's promotion. In the end, Wang Qian's promotion to Grand Censor of the Censorate fell through.

Of course, Wang Qian didn't make the cabinet ministers, court ministers, and capital officials look too ugly, nor did he make it difficult for His Majesty. He persisted for less than a day, gave up the extravagance of promotion, and took the initiative to submit a memorial to resign, giving everyone a step down so that they wouldn't argue endlessly about this matter.

The summary of Wang Qian's memorial was just one sentence: he was not that important.

The matter of the Grand Censor of the Censorate entered the process of court recommendation.

The Cabinet quickly drafted three candidates and sent them to the Emperor for approval.

"I found an interesting thing: the ministers in the eyes of the cabinet ministers, the ministers in my eyes, and the ministers in the eyes of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot spies are completely three different people." Zhu Yijun looked at the resumes of the three people and reached a conclusion.

Looking at problems from different angles yields different conclusions.

For example, the first candidate recommended, Baoding Provincial Governor Xin Zixiu—in the eyes of the ministers, Xin Zixiu was absolutely the best candidate. Xin Zixiu and Hence Hai Rui were good friends, and they corresponded frequently. Someone recognized by Hence Hai Rui naturally couldn't be a treacherous official or thief;

But in the eyes of the factory and guard spies, this Xin Zixiu was extremely unsuitable because he looked a bit "unclean." Because he had a close relationship with all parties, maintained a close relationship with the "pure stream," and also had frequent dealings with the powerful families, his family had many marriages with powerful families. The spies said Xin Zixiu "relied on power to destroy the law," which was already a very serious accusation;

And in the Emperor's eyes, Xin Zixiu wouldn't work. The reason he wouldn't work was that Xin Zixiu's ability was insufficient. He was just a "good old man." Doing the work of the Grand Censor of the Censorate, which offends people, Xin Zixiu couldn't do it. The Minister of Rites would be more suitable.

Zhu Yijun looked for a long time and chose Lu Guangzu as the Left Censor-in-Chief and Xin Zixiu as the Right Censor-in-Chief.

Lu Guangzu, a person who really wanted to make progress.

Lu Guangzu was a *jinshi* of the 26th year of Jiajing, in the same list as Zhang Juzheng. Lu Guangzu's foundation was very deep, and he had deep entanglements with both the Jin Party and the Zhang Party.

When Zhang Juzheng's father passed away, Lu Guangzu was also in mourning. The Emperor asked Lu Guangzu to return to the court to serve, sharing some of the firepower of opposing the "retention in office" for Zhang Juzheng.

Lu Guangzu didn't say a word, scolded the cheap Confucian scholars in the Southern Yamen who wouldn't let him return to office, and returned to the capital to serve happily, becoming the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

For eleven years, Lu Guangzu never added trouble to the Emperor. If the Emperor wanted to kill someone or behead someone, he could instigate Wang Chonggu to give His Majesty blank imperial warrants, allowing His Majesty to kill people reasonably, legally, and in accordance with the process, rather than creating yellow-paper injustices.

Lu Guangzu's reasons were very sufficient. He believed that His Majesty was very wise and believed in His Majesty's self-control.

To oppose blank imperial warrants, one must first oppose His Majesty's

wisdom, which fell into the logical trap that the Emperor could not be wrong, causing a group of scholar-officials to scold Lu Guangzu as a "yes-man."

Overall, in the eyes of the ministers, Lu Guangzu had sufficient ability, but was too sycophantic and not suitable for the Censorate, this noble government office, to be the Grand Censor. But in Great Ming at the moment, there were indeed no suitable candidates. If there were, Hence Hai Rui wouldn't have broken the rules to recommend Wang Qian.

Great Ming had to skip a group of people, the *jinshi* from the 26th year of Jiajing to the 41st year of Jiajing. These people were not loyal enough—not loyal to the Emperor, the court, the nation, and the people. The risk and potential threat of letting these people rise to power were extremely great.

The Great Ming Emperor's appointment was quite surprising to the Cabinet, but the Cabinet quickly passed the new appointment unanimously. After the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites discussed it, there were not many opposing opinions, and this matter was settled.

The Ministry of Rites did not oppose it, and could not oppose it. The Minister of Rites and Cabinet Minister Shen Li had been sycophantic from backbone for a day or two. The elder brother didn't laugh at the younger brother. If they opposed it on the grounds of Lu Guangzu's sycophancy, should Shen Li also be impeached?

Just like that, Lu Guangzu became the new Grand Censor of the Censorate.

On the last day of the fifth month of the 16th year of Wanli, Great Ming was to hold the "Opening of the Wine Inspection," also known as the Wine Festival. Before entering the fifth month, in late April, the entire capital became lively, and even the air was filled with the fragrance of wine.

At the same time, the merchant ships that set sail from Songjiang Prefecture in April also arrived at the Nagasaki Governor's Palace, and a large batch of goods flowed into Japan, also representing countless Japanese slaves and Japanese women flowing into Great Ming and Nanyang.

In April, the trade winds changed, a hundred boats competed for the current, and a thousand sails passed by. Great Ming's busy maritime trade started again. This busyness could not even be blocked by the manic and frequent typhoons of the Western Pacific.

Great Ming's special envoy to Japan, Gao Qiyu, had never left the Welcome Pavilion during this time, and had been negotiating peace with Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto.

Any peace negotiation is protracted and will inevitably be accompanied by mutual probing, confrontation, and determining each other's strength. Generally speaking, what cannot be obtained on the battlefield cannot be obtained at the negotiating table.

Exchanges between countries are entirely based on interests, not benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust. If one doesn't understand this point, one cannot enter the Court of Ceremonial Guests in Great Ming to be a Han envoy.

Military victory can effectively control. For example, in the negotiations, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would not demand Korea, which was temporarily controlled but would be driven into the sea by Great Ming; Toyotomi Hideyoshi would not demand the ownership of Tsushima Island in the negotiations, because the Great Ming army actually occupied Tsushima Island.

This is the basic principle of general negotiations: the principle of effective control. Whoever occupies it is the owner. Throughout history, there has been no exception.

Of course, there are accidents, such as betrayal. If Great Ming directly sold Korea to Japan, the Koreans would cry and scream, and Japan would probably laugh in their dreams.

This is possible. After all, people like Zhao Nanxing felt that Great Ming's entry into Korea to fight was a waste of

military force, a reckless mobilization of troops, and placing the world in danger.

For example, Sima Guang advocated peace in exchange for land and used the last moments of his life to return all the land that Wang Anshi had opened in Xihe to Western Xia, which originally had a precarious situation, and Western Xia immediately stabilized.

Opening up territory requires military victory. This sounds like a correct piece of nonsense similar to "there must be water in a fire hydrant."

But Western Xia obtained four extremely important strategic locations under military defeat: Mizhi Fortress, controlling the Wu Ding River basin; Jialu Fortress, an important ferry on the west bank of the Yellow River, guarding the Hedong defense line; Futu Fortress, controlling the Dali River passage; and Anjiang Fortress, the core camp of the Huanqing Road defense zone.

Western Xia was directly resurrected from the brink of death.

Therefore, Zhu Yijun was very vigilant against people like Zhao Nanxing, and even specifically crossed out their names from the *jinshi* fame, preventing them from obtaining power. These cheap Confucian scholars had no ability to do things, but ruining things was easy.

Regarding the attitude toward cheap Confucian scholars, Zhu Yijun had always been able to kill if he could. If there was really no excuse to kill, he would exile one if he found one, preferably never to return to the court.

"Grand Ambassador, are we being a bit too much by doing this?" Li Chengli finished reading the terms of the negotiation and felt that Gao Qiyu was not just asking for a lion's share, but was playing a game of empty-handed white wolf.

Gao Qiyu created something out of nothing, created a card out of thin air, and demanded that Toyotomi Hideyoshi go to the Great Ming capital to pay respects to His Majesty before he could obtain the investiture from Great Ming.

The reason was very sufficient: Great Ming was deceived by Oda Nobunaga and invested him as the King of Japan. After he stood firm, he immediately plotted rebellion and invaded Korea.

If Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to obtain the investiture of the Great Ming court, he had to personally go to the Great Ming capital to pay respects. Otherwise, Great Ming would invest in Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and this Toyotomi Hideyoshi would invade Korea again. How would Great Ming respond?

Everyone knew in their hearts that if Toyotomi Hideyoshi went to the Great Ming capital, he would only die without a burial place. His Majesty never cherished his reputation, and even less cared about the life or death of the Japanese.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi couldn't go, so he had to pay the price.

Gao Qiyu launched a "something out of nothing," pulled out a virtual card, and made Toyotomi Hideyoshi exhausted.

"Is it too much?" Gao Qiyu shook his head and said: "I didn't move their Japanese King to Great Ming and let the Japanese King sink into the sea on the way, which is already very subtle. Too much? Where is it too much?"

Gao Qiyu's words surprised Li Chengli, and then he was relieved. This Gao Qiyu was a scholar. It was natural for a scholar to be so vicious. Too much?

The Japanese King Gao Qiyu spoke of was actually the Emperor of Japan, also known as the Lord of Yamashiro.

Great Ming's cognition of Japan's system and the role of the Emperor was zero before establishing the Nagasaki Governor's Palace. They thought Japan's Emperor was the monarch of Yamashiro, and the Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate invested by Great Ming was Japan's supreme ruler.

But after the Nagasaki Governor's Palace was established, after extremely in-depth understanding, they finally sorted out

that the Lord of Yamashiro, the King of Japan, and the Emperor were actually one person. This Emperor was Japan's supreme ruler.

In the side of the couch, there was actually a guy who usurped the title of Emperor!

Since knowing that the Japanese King and Lord of Yamashiro called himself Emperor in Japan, the scholar-officials of Great Ming all felt like they had a fish bone in their throats.

The Ministry of Rites checked the classics and found that at least since the Sui Dynasty, the Japanese King had already begun to call himself Emperor. For example, during the time of Emperor Yang of Sui, there was a Japanese envoy Ono no Imoko (male, Chinese name Su Yinggao) who secretly wrote a sentence in the state letter: "The Eastern Emperor respectfully bows to the Western Emperor."

Moving the Japanese King Emperor to Great Ming and then letting the Japanese King Emperor's family sink into the sea was Gao Qiyu's previous plan, but considering the difficulty of execution, he planned to wait and see.

Gao Qiyu looked at Kyoto outside the window, his brows furrowed, and said: "Japan's current situation is very bad. 80,000 people were lost in Korea, population loss, land abandonment, the wealth gap is becoming more extreme, and the Great Joy Sect is rampant."

"Japan is on one hand in a state of drunken dreams and golden prosperity. These port cities seem never to have been affected by these wars; on the other hand, it is extreme poverty. The contradiction of too many people and too little land, which should have been alleviated with population loss, has not been alleviated."

"Division, tearing, opposition, and elimination—Japan is eliminating Japan."

"His Majesty asked me, is Oda Nobunaga's death self-inflicted? I don't know, but it probably is."

Li Chengli asked curiously: "If the Grand Ambassador were the Prime Minister of Japan, would there be any good methods?"

Gao Qiyu nodded and said: "Yes. First, invade Korea and Great Ming again and win. In this way, all of Japan's internal contradictions will be greatly alleviated with the victory of the war. After all, external expansion gains enough population, land, and wealth;"

"Second, close the country and live one's own life behind closed doors."

These were the two prescriptions Gao Qiyu gave to Japan. Invading was as difficult as ascending to heaven; the Great Ming's weapons and training formed a huge generation gap. This "closing the country" seemed to be a good strategy.

But it couldn't be executed. Great Ming wouldn't allow Japan to close the country. Besides mining Japan's silver mines, Great Ming also wanted to mine "human mines." Closing the country—how could Great Ming continue to mine human mines?

Great Ming's cheap and inferior firearms, textiles, porcelain, tea, pens, inks, papers, etc., poured into Japan. This was the outbound journey;

Japanese *daimyo* provided enough silver. If silver was insufficient, they provided Japanese slaves and Japanese women to exchange for these goods, and these Japanese slaves and Japanese women would be transported to plantations in Nanyang. This was the middle journey;

Plantations produced agricultural products like sugar, rubber, tobacco, palm oil, etc., and raw materials like gold, silver, copper, and iron back to Great Ming. This was the return journey.

The triangular trade cycle of outbound, middle, and return journeys had been completely established.

Even if the Great Ming Emperor had a change of heart and closed the Nagasaki Governor's Palace, allowing Japan to close the country, Japan couldn't close the country anymore. The circular trade route had already been formed. Even His Majesty would find it very difficult to destroy it. This was driven by the handle of profit.

Even if the law didn't allow it, someone would secretly come to do it.

And the brokers and buyers who were prevalent in Japan accelerated the cycle of this triangular trade.

These brokers and buyers and the *daimyo* behind them were the biggest consumers of Great Ming merchants' outbound journey and were one of the reasons for the production of Japanese slaves and Japanese women. Japan was truly too bitter, so bitter that they would rather be slaves or Nanyang sisters than escape this hell.

Japanese slaves were produced for four reasons: war, punishment, superstition, and famine. And Japan's brokers and buyers expanded the influence of these four reasons.

Japan's Shogunate, court nobles, *daimyo*, and buyer economy—these meat-eaters saw it very clearly. They stood much higher than the poor and suffering, and they knew the problem very well, but they didn't stop it. Instead, they indulged in such things happening because they wanted to maintain their status while gaining benefits.

Therefore, besides invading Korea again and closing the country, Japan actually had a third way out, which was "when kings and nobles are born, are they of a different kind?"—to rise up in rebellion.

Gao Qiyu gave the third prescription: rise up in rebellion. This was the only feasible way for Japan to be reborn from the ashes, for the egg to be broken from the inside and welcome a new life.

Only one can save oneself—this was the lesson Great Ming learned from thousands of years of history.

"Hiss, Grand Ambassador, if the Japanese really rise up in rebellion... what should be done?" Li Chengli was immediately vigilant. He sympathized with the Japanese's plight, but he didn't intend to interfere with the trade of Japanese slaves. Li Chengli was even more vigilant about the birth of a united, newborn, and more consensus-driven Japan!

This was not in Great Ming's interest.

"Isn't this the significance of the existence of people like Toyotomi Hideyoshi?" Gao Qiyu's mouth pulled out a dark and unclear smile.

Li Chengli couldn't help but shiver and immediately stood up and said: "I'm going to inspect the defense of the Welcome Pavilion!"

"Why are you leaving? Come back and chat some more!" Gao Qiyu saw Li Chengli leaving and hurriedly said.

"His Majesty said: don't let us martial men learn to be bad from you scholars!" Li Chengli hurried away without looking back and made up his mind that he would not talk to Gao Qiyu if he could avoid it.

He didn't quite understand before why Gao Qiyu recognized Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule, and Gao Qiyu even planned to ask for a royal investiture for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

When Li Chengli understood Gao Qiyu's plan, even his bones were trembling. His Majesty was right; these scholars read too many books.

Maintaining Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule in Japan was to completely lock Japan's path to rebirth through rising up in rebellion, keeping Japan in a purgatory of semi-colonialism and semi-feudalism.

What Ma Deli Chengli's scalp tingle the most was that throughout the negotiation process, Gao Qiyu always stood on the moral high ground and didn't do a single bad thing.

"Alas, chat a few more sentences." Gao Qiyu smiled and continued to process various reports, looking for clues from the reports to grasp the overall direction of the peace talks.

Gao Qiyu looked at the reports in front of him, his face showing surprise, and then revealed a smile. Judging by the current situation, Toyotomi Hideyoshi could only cut meat, agreeing to the condition of the Great Ming Emperor stationing troops in the mining area.

On the 24th day of the fourth month of the 16th year of Wanli, the Nagato City controlled by the Japanese *daimyo* Mori Terumoto was attacked by the Great Ming army and fell the next day.

According to the frontline war report, on the day of Nagato City, tens of thousands of Divine Fire Flying Crows rushed into the sky and fell into Nagato City, exploding with a bang.

Where had the Japanese seen such a battle? They shouted "Heavenly Fire" and fled Nagato.

Qi Jiguang was also very surprised by the power of the Divine Fire Flying Crow. He was actually not very interested in this kind of firearm that had a long range but relatively small power. This batch of Divine Fire Flying Crows was also sent to the frontline by the Academy of Investigation of Things for verification tests, mainly to verify stability.

The power of this thing was just as Qi Jiguang expected—actually very ordinary. It sprinkled phosphorus after the explosion, setting all the wooden buildings in Nagato City on fire, which made the momentum appear too great.

This thing's blow to morale exceeded everyone's expectations, including the Japanese.

The fall of Nagato City completely destroyed the Japanese's determination to resist to the death. The entire Japan was in a state of panic.

Before resisting, the Japanese had to consider a question: how many Divine Fire Flying Crows did Great Ming have?

"Grand Ambassador, the Divine Fire Flying Crows have arrived." The Imperial Commissioner Huang Bin walked into Gao Qiyu's room with a smile on his face. For the mining rights that Great Ming cared about most, Toyotomi Hideyoshi agreed to Great Ming's stationing of troops.

Gao Qiyu picked up the surrender letter, read it for a long time, and said with a smile: "Very interesting. Now just handing over the mining rights is probably not enough. Toyotomi Hideyoshi must hand over the Japanese King."

Gao Qiyu opened his mouth like a lion, continuing to create chips and extreme pressure, trying to exchange for as many benefits as possible. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born extremely humble, a poor farmer. To establish authority and obtain the status of *Taikō* and *Kampaku*, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was extremely respectful to the Emperor, treating him with great courtesy to exchange for the surname of Toyotomi.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi could not possibly hand over the Emperor to Great Ming, so this was another extreme pressure.

"What does the Grand Ambassador want this time?" Huang Bin asked curiously.

Gao Qiyu said very firmly: "Of course, it's to help with the military expenses. The Great Ming army is stationed to help them protect the mining area. Isn't it natural for them to pay the military salary?"

Great Ming didn't need this Emperor, and it was a waste of food. Playing "falling into the water" had hidden dangers. It was better to ask for some solid benefits. Even if Toyotomi Hideyoshi was respectful to the Japanese King Emperor, it was out of need. He didn't take the Japanese King seriously. A little extreme pressure to get more benefits was Gao Qiyu's purpose for this trip.

He didn't want to stay in such an uncivilized place to be an "Emperor of Emperors." He wanted to go back to be a wise minister and make progress.

Great Ming Minister of Rites Shen Li advocated: "If the Han people do not multiply, even if one gains a vast territory of a thousand leagues, it remains but a wild frontier." The speed of civilizing Tsushima Island was even faster than that of Suiyuan.

Every time the Japanese slaves passed through Guihua City to go to Womagang and the Siberian grasslands to plant potatoes, San Niangzi would organize the border people, the Hu people, and the former ten-thousand-household leaders to watch the migration of the Japanese slaves.

San Niangzi repeatedly told these ten-thousand-household leaders: "Under no circumstances should you become rebels; do not provoke His Majesty. Look at these Japanese slaves! The Great Ming has plenty of ways to civilize Suiyuan; the reason it hasn't been done is because His Majesty is kind!"

On the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year of Wanli, Nagato City, controlled by the Japanese daimyo Mouri Terumoto, was attacked by the Great Ming army and fell the next day.

According to the frontline battle report, on that day in Nagato City, tens of thousands of "Divine Fire Flying Crows" soared into the sky, fell into Nagato City, and exploded with a boom.

Where had the Japanese ever seen such a formation? Shouting "Heavenly Fire," they fled Nagato.

Mouri Terumoto was already the daimyo who had preserved his strength the best after invading Korea, yet he did not last a single day in the hands of the Great Ming army.

Qi Jiguang was also very surprised by the power of the Divine Fire Flying Crows. He was actually not particularly interested in this type of firearm, which had a long range but relatively small power. This batch of Divine Fire Flying Crows was also sent to the frontline by the Academy of Sciences for verification tests, mainly to verify their stability.

The power of this thing, just as Qi Jiguang had expected, was actually very ordinary. What it scattered after the explosion was phosphorus, which ignited all the wooden buildings in Nagato City, making the momentum seem overly grand.

This thing's blow to morale exceeded everyone's expectations, including the Japanese.

The fall of Nagato City completely shattered the Japanese determination to resist to the death. The entire Japanese nation was completely in a state of panic and anxiety.

Before resisting, the Japanese had to consider one question: How many Divine Fire Flying Crows did the Great Ming actually have?

"Grand Grand Honglu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi has sent an envoy to deliver a letter of surrender." Provincial Military Commander Huang Bin walked into Gao Qiyu's room with a face full of smiles and placed a book of surrender in front of Gao Qiyu. Regarding the mining rights the Great Ming was most concerned about, Toyotomi Hideyoshi agreed to the Great Ming's stationing of troops.

Gao Qiyu picked up the letter of surrender, looked at it for a long time, and said with a smile, "Very interesting. Just handing over the mining rights now is probably not enough; Toyotomi Hideyoshi must hand over all the Japanese kings."

Gao Qiyu opened his mouth like a lion, continuing to create bargaining chips and applying extreme pressure to exchange for as many benefits as possible. Toyotomi Hideyoshi came from an extremely humble background as a poor farmer. In order to establish authority and obtain the status of Taiko Kampaku, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was extremely respectful and courteous to the Emperor in exchange for the bestowal of the Toyotomi surname.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi could not possibly hand the Emperor over to the Great Ming, so this was another instance of extreme pressure.

"

What does the Grand Grand Honglu want this time?" Huang Bin asked curiously.

Gao Qiyu said very firmly, "Of course, it's to assist with military expenses. The Great Ming stations troops to help them protect the mines; isn't it only natural that they pay the military salaries?"

The Great Ming had no use for this Emperor; it would be a waste of food, cause trouble, and have future repercussions. It was better to get some solid benefits. Even if Toyotomi Hideyoshi was extremely respectful to the Japanese Emperor, that was out of necessity; he didn't take the Japanese Emperor seriously. Applying extreme pressure bit by bit to strive for more benefits was the purpose of Gao Qiyu's trip.

He had no desire to stay in such an uncivilized place to be some kind of "Emperor of Emperors"; he wanted to go back to be a Great Official and make progress.