Chapter 1119: The Loyal and Righteous Xu Zhengzhi

"What a fine Mito Mitsukuni — with one twist he's turned himself into the Queen's consort, and if a little more time passes, he'll be King of Japan, won't he? Carrying on like this, he's not only a traitorous minister to the Land of Japan, he's a rebel against the Tokugawa shogunate!"

The one speaking was the shogunate's Great Elder, Hoshina Masayuki!

He had already led a great army across the Kanmon Strait and entered Kokura Castle, the main castle of the Buzen Kokura domain, which had once been seized by the Shimazu army.

After the Tokugawa house brought out the trump card of the "civil-service examination," the shogunate-toppling Toyotomi army was like a snake struck at its vital point — in an instant it lost all its strength, and from its original triumphant progress it turned into a rout of a thousand li. In Kyushu it lost the Battle of Nishizaka Castle and the Battle of Fuchu Castle; in Honshu it first collapsed at the Battle of Katsuyama, and a little later was defeated again beneath the walls of Hagi Castle, the old nest of the Mori house. The Mori–Asano allied army had no choice but to withdraw into Hagi Castle and defend it to the death.

And Hoshina Masayuki, after leaving part of his army to besiege Hagi Castle, crossed the sea and entered the northern part of Kyushu, where he joined forces with the siblings Hoshina Masatsune and Tokugawa Taka at Kokura.

With the war fought to this point, everyone knew the Toyotomi army had flopped again, and its total annihilation was only a matter of time!

And rising again in the future would be difficult, because Japan's surplus samurai now had a way out — they could take examinations and become officials, or go abroad as mercenaries for the Ming dynasty, and they even had the chance to obtain a piece of land in the Southern Seas and become lords.

So the samurai's interest in toppling the shogunate had already greatly diminished; otherwise the Toyotomi army would not have collapsed beyond recovery — if there were still hundreds of thousands of masterless samurai ready at any moment to join up, the Toyotomi army could absolutely have withstood several crushing defeats.

But now that would not do. No one was willing to follow the Toyotomi house in toppling the shogunate anymore; even the masterless samurai who had originally joined the houses of the Toyotomi regime's Great Elders — Shimazu, Mori, Asano, and the rest — were slipping away one after another. Masterless samurai too had to choose a worthy lord to serve! Following these unlucky Toyotomi Great Elders had no future, and they could not get much military pay either. If there had been no other way out, they might have gambled on it, but the Tokugawa house had opened the civil-service examination.

Yet just at the juncture when the Tokugawa shogunate could see final victory within its grasp, a series of reports came from Kyoto that Hoshina Masayuki had never expected.

Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who had escorted Tokugawa Ietsuna to Kyoto, had at some unknown point colluded with Meisho-in, who had abdicated and lived in retirement for many years, and together they had staged a fine drama of bedroom politics.

Not only had they forced Emperor Gosai to step aside and restored Meisho-in to the throne as sovereign, they had also, through Meisho-in's mouth, abolished the imperial house's divine status and acknowledged Xu Fu as their ancestor; after that came a marriage between the Queen and a minister, making Tokugawa Mitsukuni the Queen's consort!

The affair had been handled far too beautifully!

The Tokugawa house had thus openly and righteously usurped the great throne, and Tokugawa Mitsukuni, as head of the Mito house, which had no right of succession to the shogunate, had also bypassed the shogunal house's claim to legitimacy by marrying the Queen, thereby usurping the great power of the Tokugawa house.

Although Tokugawa Ietsuna was still shogun, Tokugawa Mitsukuni would very soon be Great King of the Land of Japan. A Great King is greater than a shogun!

Who would take the stupid Lord Shogun seriously after this? Would not his shogunate become a mere empty post?

How could Hoshina Masayuki not be furious when he heard this news?

Who was fighting to the death against the Toyotomi house at the front? Was it not the three of them — Hoshina Masayuki, Hoshina Masatsune, and Tokugawa Taka (Hoshina Taka)?

By what right did Tokugawa Mitsukuni pick up the ready-made prize and swallow up both the imperial court and the shogunate?

They were all descendants of the Divine Lord; none of them had the right of succession to the shogunate. By what right did he become king, while Hoshina Masayuki could only remain a subject?

In the main keep of Kokura Castle, the only ones listening to him speak now were Hoshina Masatsune and Tokugawa Taka. The brother and sister knelt sitting in the Japanese-style room, hands on their knees, listening quietly.

"Mito Mitsukuni is nothing less than a thief who steals a state — he cannot be lightly forgiven! Once we have put down the two rebels Shimazu and Mori, we shall raise troops and march on Kyoto, and settle the score with the state-thief!"

Hoshina Masatsune nodded stiffly: "Father, though the Mito Major Counselor's way of grabbing is a little unsightly, for all parties concerned it is nevertheless acceptable."

"Acceptable to all?" Hoshina Masayuki's eyelid twitched. "What about His Lordship the Shogun?"

"The Shogun is stupid, is he not."

A ruler may be cruel, may be greedy, may be lecherous — but he must not be stupid!

All that talk of ruling with folded hands is for deceiving the ignorant common folk — a ruler too stupid to exercise power is not ruling with folded hands at all; someone else is ruling, and the stupid ruler himself has already been reduced to a puppet.

Such a situation almost always means enormous danger. If the minister holding power harbored any thought of usurping the state and seizing the throne, would the realm not fall into great chaos?

So replacing the Tokugawa house's stupidest, Ietsuna, with the cleverest, Mitsukuni, is a good thing for the shogunate, for the Kingdom of Japan, and for Japan's samurai.

"But Mito Mitsukuni is not a descendant of Lord Taidoku-in!" Hoshina Masayuki shook his head repeatedly.

Lord Taidoku-in was Hoshina Masayuki's own father, Tokugawa Hidetada!

Mito Mitsukuni was the son of Tokugawa Yorifusa, not the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu — if he were, he would have become shogun long ago!

Of course, if Hoshina Masayuki had been Hidetada's legitimate son, he too would certainly have become shogun!

"Father!" Tokugawa Taka, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up. "The matter of Mito Mitsukuni marrying the Queen is already a done deal. Not only will both the court and the military houses be satisfied, but the Celestial Court above will also accept this outcome. On what grounds should we oppose it?"

His daughter's words instantly cooled Hoshina Masayuki down.

Without the support of Zheng Jiangong and Zheng Hongkui, how would Mito Mitsukuni dare to do such a thing?

"Must we just watch with open eyes as Mito Mitsukuni takes all the advantages?" Hoshina Masayuki, in his agitation, blurted out the truth.

"How could that be?" Tokugawa Taka said. "Your daughter is a selected attendant of the Great Ming Son of Heaven. How could the Son of Heaven possibly treat Father unfairly?"

"The Son of Heaven's meaning is—" Hoshina Masayuki asked in a low voice.

"Kyushu needs a loyal and righteous man to hold it down!" Tokugawa Taka said. "Father, tell me, who in all Japan right now is the most loyal and righteous?"

Hoshina Masayuki said: "Let me think... it seems it is me!"

"Correct, it is Father!" Hoshina Masatsune said with a perfectly straight face. "Father is Japan's foremost loyal and righteous man, so the one to hold Kyushu can only be Father!"

"I wonder under what title I may hold Kyushu?" Hoshina Masayuki asked.

Hoshina Masatsune and Tokugawa Taka exchanged a glance, and Hoshina Masatsune had already produced a Great Ming imperial edict, which he presented to his father with both hands.

"Father, this was given to your son by Zheng Jiangong when he passed through Nagasaki," Hoshina Masatsune said. "He told your child to deliver this edict to you, old sir, after matters in Kyoto had been fully settled."

"Is that so?" Hoshina Masayuki drew a breath and looked at his pair of children, then said in a low voice, "So the clever ones are not only the Mito Major Counselor!"

Of course — if the behind-the-scenes deal had not been made, would Tokugawa Mitsukuni dare to do such a thing?

Hoshina Masayuki took the edict, opened it, and read it over word by word. After finishing, he was silent for a while, then said: "The Son of Heaven bestows upon me the surname Xu, enfeoffs me as Duke of Wa, and grants me governance of Kyushu."

The Zhu Emperor would certainly not allow Japan to truly unify. The Land of Japan was too large, its population too numerous, and it had an especially great number of samurai, and it hung out upon the sea. If it truly unified, sooner or later it would become a problem.

So Zhu Cilang, while supporting Tokugawa Mitsukuni's usurpation of the state, had also propped up the Hoshina father and son, who were close to him, letting them become kings of Kyushu.

Kyushu was not a large piece of territory, but relative to the Land of Japan it was not too small either. Mitsukuni could not give it up, yet had no way to conquer it — Great Ming stood behind Kyushu, and a clever man like him knew what to do!

"Father, Xu is the national surname of Japan, and it is also the surname of our house's ancestors!" Hoshina Masatsune said. "Moreover, half of Kyushu is already in our hands; if we also have the legitimacy granted by the Great Ming Son of Heaven, our house can become the true kings of Kyushu!"

"But the court — Japan's court?" Hoshina Masayuki shook his head. "Kyushu is, after all, Japanese land!"

"The court will certainly agree!" Tokugawa Taka said with a laugh. "The Mito Major Counselor does not wish to make an enemy of Father, and he too needs a loyal and righteous man to hold Kyushu!"

Hoshina Masayuki let out a breath: "Still, that Mito Major Counselor has gotten off cheap — the fellow is not only clever, but lucky as well!"

(End of Chapter)