Chapter 1148: The Ming Prince's Rise in Value

Located in Kokura Castle in Buzen Province, it is now the political center of Kyushu Island and the seat of the Kyushu Governorate under the Kingdom of Japan.

Although Japan has now achieved the union of the imperial court and the warrior government, a centralized government still does not exist.

Even if the Japanese royal court began implementing an examination-based official appointment system, it could not possibly, as in the historical Meiji Restoration, transform Japan from a feudal, divided country into a unified capitalist state in a very short time through a series of reforms such as the return of domains and the abolition of the han system.

The reason is simple: the feudal forces within Japan are still powerful. Before the union of court and warrior government, the Tokugawa shogunate had only just passed to its fourth generation. And the men actually wielding power, Tokugawa Mitsukuni and Hoshina Masayuki, were both of the third Tokugawa generation. The abilities of these figures simply cannot be compared with the decadent shogunate and domain rulers of the late Edo period.

Moreover, within the Tokugawa family itself, forces supporting feudal division still exist, and their influence is not small.

The former number-one grandee of the shogunate, Hoshina Masayuki (Xu Zhengzhi), who led the Tokugawa armies to crush the Toyotomi rebels, is the leader of the feudal faction.

To appease Masayuki and the feudal faction, Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who had already become king, had no choice but to appoint Masayuki as Governor of Kyushu. He also placed all eleven provinces of the Kyushu region (including Iki Province and Tsushima Province) under the rule of the Kyushu Governorate. Of these, the 260,000 koku of Buzen Province (the province where Kokura Castle is located), the 230,000 koku of Bungo Province, and the 610,000 koku of Satsuma and Osumi Provinces all became Masayuki's direct holdings.

Holding the office of Governor of Kyushu and a great fief of 1.1 million koku, and bearing the Japanese royal surname, Xu Zhengzhi commands immense prestige throughout the eleven provinces of Kyushu. Since a year ago, people have respectfully called him the Kokura Kubo.

But this Lord Kokura Kubo, whose word is law within the eleven provinces of Kyushu, has now left his stronghold of Kokura Castle and condescended to travel all the way to Nagasaki to pay his respects to an extraordinary guest — Zhu Cihuan, Commandery Prince of Chongqing of the Great Ming!

How extraordinary! A Ming Commandery Prince, and the full younger brother of the Ming Son of Heaven!

Such a status would mean nothing in Yingtian Prefecture. There are dozens of princes in Yingtian Prefecture, and Zhu Cilang's full younger brothers number over a hundred — what would they be worth?

A bare Commandery Prince is worth only 5,000 mu of stipend land plus a princely mansion — the level of a large landlord.

But here in Kyushu, Japan, it is extraordinary!

Xu Zhengzhi, this Kokura Kubo of the Kingdom of Japan, is also the Duke of Wo of the Great Ming — one rank lower than the Commandery Prince of Chongqing! And his daughter Tokugawa Taka is merely Consort He of the Zhu Emperor — that is, a concubine, whose status likewise cannot compare to the full younger brother of the Son of Heaven.

If the Kokura Kubo did not take the visiting full younger brother of the Ming Emperor, the Commandery Prince of Chongqing, seriously, would that not be telling everyone that this Duke of Wo of the Kokura Kubo and the Ming imperial consort who is the Kubo's own daughter are nothing special?

To display his own nobility, the Kokura Kubo Xu Zhengzhi must, before the samurai of Kyushu, raise high this Ming Commandery Prince who has come fleeing.

A great host of samurai and attendants, bearing countless gifts, followed the Kokura Kubo out of the castle in the northeast of Kyushu Island, near the Kanmon Strait, and came surging grandly toward Nagasaki City.

"Xu Zhengzhi, Governor of Kyushu of the Kingdom of Japan, is coming to Nagasaki to pay his respects to Your Highness. The procession has already passed Nishi-zaka Hill and will arrive this afternoon. You should still tidy yourself up. This official will also make arrangements for you. We cannot let the Celestial Court lose face, can we?"

"Supervisor Chen is right. You are a Commandery Prince of our Great Ming. In rank of nobility, you stand above the Kokura Kubo — he is merely the Duke of Wo of our Great Ming!"

The ones speaking with Zhu Cihuan in the Princess Residence on Dejima in Nagasaki were Chen Yongxi, the Administrative Supervisor of the Great Ming stationed in Nagasaki, and Xie Xun, the Garrison Commander of the Great Ming Navy stationed in Nagasaki.

Nagasaki City south of Nishi-zaka Hill (including Nishi-zaka Hill), including the Goto Islands, now nominally belongs to Tokugawa Taka, but is in fact governed by officials dispatched by the Great Ming.

The highest civil official dispatched by the Great Ming to Nagasaki is called the Administrative Supervisor, currently held by Chen Yongxi of the Prince of Dai's faction. The garrison stationed in Nagasaki City is not an army force but naval infantry, and the Garrison Commander is Xie Xun, who once served as chief instructor of Japan's Red Matchlock Corps.

This civil and military pair boarded Dejima, originally used to house Dutch merchants, this morning, and entered the Western-style building known as the "Princess Residence" to bring good news to a thoroughly dejected, down-and-out Ming prince.

The down-and-out prince was of course Zhu Cihuan. He had arrived in Nagasaki three days earlier and had not intended to stay long — nor did he have the face to stay long!

Nagasaki City is now packed with "stock-crash refugees" who fled from Shanghai — several thousand households, most of them with their whole families, wanting to go to the New World to start a new life.

And their old lives had all been ruined by those damned stocks. Some of their ruin was certainly connected to the Chongqing Stock House!

Some were sweet-talked by the brokers of the Chongqing Stock House into buying at the top, even borrowing money to buy shares, and lost everything!

Others trusted in the background of the Commandery Prince of Chongqing and handed over silver obtained by mortgaging their land and property to the Chongqing Stock House to invest.

This truly was meeting "old acquaintances" in a foreign land!

The Prince of Chongqing was thin-skinned to begin with, and wished he could avoid even disembarking — just resupply and leave directly. But he never expected that his princess consort, from depression and the hardships of the voyage, had fallen so seasick she was bedridden and simply could not cross the ocean.

So Zhu Cihuan had no choice but to thicken his face and seek help from Chen Yongxi.

At first Chen Yongxi did not believe the Prince of Chongqing would come to Japan at all, and thought he had encountered a swindler, so he notified Xie Xun to send troops to seize the man.

Xie Xun led troops aboard the ship, only to discover that Zhu Cihuan was very likely the real Prince of Chongqing — the prince's seal, robes, and command tokens were all present, and moreover his noble bearing was not something ordinary people could counterfeit.

So Xie Xun dared not act rashly, and immediately had the prince's family invited to rest at the "Princess Residence" on Dejima. Just as he was about to conduct further investigation, Chen Yongxi received a dispatch from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yingtian Prefecture, informing him that the Prince of Chongqing would be going to the Americas and might stop over in Nagasaki.

Chen Yongxi therefore immediately sent word to the Duke of Wo, Xu Zhengzhi, telling him to come pay his respects, while he himself went to the island to pay his respects to Zhu Cihuan.

And Zhu Cihuan, because he had come as a fugitive and his wife was too ill to rise, was utterly distraught, did not wish to see anyone, and had let himself become thoroughly bedraggled.

It would have been one thing if Xu Zhengzhi had not come, but now the man was coming with lavish gifts to pay his respects — how could a Ming prince be so unpresentable?

So Chen Yongxi and Xie Xun were frantic. Just as the two were earnestly urging the Prince of Chongqing to pull himself together, one of Chen Yongxi's subordinate officials arrived from Nagasaki City, bringing with him a very long gift list.

"Your Highness, take a look — they have prepared lavish gifts." Chen Yongxi presented the gift list with both hands.

Zhu Cihuan took it casually, unfolded it, and his expression changed at the first glance. At the second glance, he was already on his feet, blurting out: "This — this is far too much! How much return gift would I have to prepare?"

"Your Highness, don't worry about the return gifts. Leave it all to this humble one." Yao Daqiao, standing nearby, quickly chimed in.

"But — but this is really too much!" Zhu Cihuan still shook his head. "Gold, silver, samurai swords, lacquerware, silks and satins — it must be worth over ten thousand taels?"

"More than ten thousand. The gold alone is 1,000 taels," Chen Yongxi said. "All the gifts together are worth about twenty thousand taels. Your return gift need not be that much — ten thousand taels will suffice."

"Twenty thousand taels, and I can still make ten thousand taels?" Zhu Cihuan drew a sharp breath. "This — this won't get me arrested by the censors as a corrupt official, will it?"

Chen Yongxi thought for a moment and asked, "Your Highness, do you hold any official post?"

"Official post? No." Zhu Cihuan was a bare prince. He sighed. "This prince is not qualified to be investigated by the censors."

The worst thing was not being investigated for corruption by the Yama censors — it was not even being qualified to be investigated!

"Then there is no problem," Chen Yongxi said with a smile. "Your Highness may accept the gifts without worry. And after accepting the Kokura Kubo's gifts, there will be gifts from others to accept as well. Below the Kokura Kubo there are quite a few domain lords who will also come to pay their respects. If Your Highness wishes to stop in Tokyo as well, you can probably collect another round of gifts from the King and Queen of Japan."

(End of Chapter)