Chapter 725: Prelude to the Great War of the Eastern World

Edo Castle's main keep, the Chamber of Seven Treasures.

The "enlightened lord" of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Iemitsu, was growing weaker by the day. In truth, his health had never been good. In his youth he could still manage, but he failed to cherish it, developing a taste for the "way of youths," which left him with few heirs. Kasuga no Tsubone, who was more anxious about an heir than the shogun himself, had no choice but to expand the Ōoku, selecting beauties far and wide in an attempt to straighten Iemitsu out.

And indeed, with enough effort, even an iron hook can be bent into a ruler. Under Kasuga no Tsubone's tireless efforts, the shogun who loved the way of youths finally became a shogun of boundless debauchery.

Especially once he reached middle age and realized his heirs were few and his line might well end, Iemitsu began to disregard his own health and redouble his efforts, even resorting to medicines, until he had thoroughly ruined his body and was nearing his end.

Still, his efforts had produced some results: he now had three sons who could inherit the shogun's seat — the somewhat dim-witted "Foolish Lord" Tokugawa Ietsuna, the animal-loving "Dog Shogun" Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, and the comparatively normal Tokugawa Tsunashige, lord of Kōshū Domain.

But all three sons were very young. The eldest, Ietsuna, was born in 1641 and was only eight this year. Given Iemitsu's current condition, he likely would not live to see the boy reach adulthood — and Ietsuna was so stupid besides. It was enough to drive a man to despair!

When the five rōjū — Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Abe Tadaaki, Hotta Masamori, Abe Shigetsugu, and Matsudaira Norinaga — entered the Chamber of Seven Treasures, Hoshina Masayuki, lord of Aizu Domain and tutor to Ietsuna, was sighing as he reported to the shogun.

The work had not gone well, of course. Though Hoshina Masayuki had racked his brains and done his utmost, Ietsuna was simply too dull — he could not learn anything at all!

Hoshina Masayuki, who himself carried Tokugawa Ieyasu's blood (he was Ieyasu's grandson, Hidetada's illegitimate son), felt close to tears. What was wrong with the Tokugawa house? Every branch and offshoot was full of vigor — himself, for instance: tall, mighty, and immensely strong, he would surely have been a great general had he been born in the Warring States era. And there was Mitsukuni of the Mito house, clever and quick, a fine student of everything — born in troubled times, he would have been a resourceful strategist. But these sons of the shogun's house...

"My lord, this subject has heard that the Ming Emperor has opened something called a Noble Youth Primary School, and has personally compiled Elementary Mathematics and Elementary French. It is said these can enlighten the mind. Perhaps we could have the Ming embassy at Uraga send these two books over, to be used in teaching the young lord?"

When the studying is poor, blame the textbooks.

"They can enlighten the mind? Have them sent over at once!" Iemitsu perked up somewhat at this news.

The very sight of Mitsukuni of the Mito house now irritated him! So clever, and older too — twenty-two this year, with a son already. If Ietsuna could be as clever as Tokugawa Mitsukuni, then he could rest easy.

After dismissing Hoshina Masayuki, who was built like an ox, Iemitsu beckoned the five rōjū to sit closer, so he would not have to raise his voice.

He needed to conserve his strength — there was a beauty to attend to tonight. Being the Sei-i Taishōgun of Japan was truly exhausting! Had he known it would be this tiring, he should have let Tadanaga take the post.

"Well?" the shogun asked quietly.

"My lord, this subject has already questioned the Ming envoy Luo Dagong in person." Matsudaira Norinaga, a rōjū of the sixty-thousand-koku rank, replied. "He said that Kuyi Island — what our country calls Karafuto — was originally a dependency of their Ming dynasty, and before that belonged to the Yuan, Jin, and Liao dynasties. According to the records, it abounds in sable pelts and gold!

Recently the Qing have been active along the coast of the Whale Sea, establishing two Vice Regional Commander offices at Haishenwai and Nurgan, and deploying over twenty thousand elite troops — clearly for the sake of obtaining precious furs and gold."

"What?" the shogun pressed. "There really is gold?"

This was the golden age of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Aikawa gold and silver mines on Sado Island poured a steady stream of wealth into the Tokugawa family, and the shogunate's four million koku of direct holdings yielded vast quantities of rice every year. This wealth was enough to sustain the shogunate's rule, but the Tokugawa shogunate also faced a great hidden danger: too many masterless samurai and warriors left over from the age of war. Over the past thirty-odd years, these rōnin and warriors had produced many descendants. With so many of them, only a small fraction could find employment; the rest sank into poverty and inevitably grew resentful of the Tokugawa shogunate.

If the Tokugawa shogunate had the wealth to employ most of them, then Japan would truly be at peace!

"There should be gold," Matsudaira Norinaga answered, glancing sidelong at Matsudaira Nobutsuna as he spoke.

Matsudaira Nobutsuna said coldly, "An island that large having some gold mines is nothing strange. But Karafuto is so far away, the climate there is bitterly cold, and the land cannot be farmed. It cannot support large numbers of miners living on the island, and supplying an army once it lands would also be extremely difficult."

"Oh." Tokugawa Iemitsu was somewhat disappointed. "You mean we should not send troops to recover it?"

"Of course not!" Matsudaira Nobutsuna shook his head. "War is necessary. Even if there is no gold on Karafuto, the shogunate cannot refrain from fighting! For the shogunate has already incorporated Karafuto into Japan — how can it be lightly abandoned? Even if we cannot take the whole island, we should establish several footholds in the southern part of Karafuto.

Moreover, in recent years there have been far too many masterless samurai wandering about, and many such men in the towns below Edo Castle as well! If we can use the Karafuto expedition to send these men to a battlefield a thousand li away, would Japan not also become much more stable?"

Matsudaira Nobutsuna had already seen that Iemitsu would not live much longer, and that the Tokugawa shogunate would then face the dangerous prospect of a child shogun ruling. If there could be a foreign war to draw the country's masterless men away to seek glory on distant campaign — whatever the outcome of the Karafuto expedition, the Tokugawa shogunate would profit.

The Tokugawa shogun asked, "An expedition like this would surely cost a great deal of money, would it not?"

"Money is no problem!" Matsudaira Nobutsuna smiled. "It is an island full of gold and sable! The gold mines and hunting grounds on the island can also be converted into koku yields and granted to samurai who distinguish themselves."

"That being so..." Iemitsu still felt uneasy. "Can we win?"

"We can!" Matsudaira Nobutsuna laughed. "The question is only how much. The Matsumae Domain lost the whole of Karafuto; if the shogunate can retake even a part of it, that is victory."

"Very well!" Tokugawa Iemitsu nodded. "Then begin preparations for the expedition. Also — Ming and Qing are mortal enemies, are they not? If we are to fight the Qing, can we form an alliance with Ming?"

"An alliance?" Matsudaira Nobutsuna had not expected the shogun to have such an idea. "In the name of the Imperial Court, or in the name of the shogunate?"

That was indeed a question!

"Let us sound them out first!" Tokugawa Iemitsu said. "Such a matter cannot be accomplished overnight!"

While this "Japan-Qing Sable War" — called the "opening battle of the Great War of the Eastern World" — was being pushed step by step toward eruption by the forces on all sides, the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang was strolling along the walls of Nanjing with a young girl who was a bit short of thirteen and a good deal past twelve. The girl's skin was lustrous and white as jade, her phoenix eyes long and slender, her bearing graceful and poised. Compared with the peerless beauties of the Zhu Emperor's harem, Zheng Chagu and Fei Zhen'e, she fell somewhat short, but she was not beneath Wu Sanmei or Ning Xiangyu. What most attracted the Zhu Emperor, however, was the girl's intelligence — how else could it be? She was a minor, after all! The Zhu Emperor would harbor no lustful thoughts; it was entirely out of appreciation for talent that he had personally gone to Longjiang Wharf to receive this twelve-year-old girl named Dong'e into Nanjing, and personally escorted her to the Jinling Girls' School to board and study.

The so-called Jinling Girls' School was one half of the Noble Youth Primary School founded by Zhu Cilang; the other half was called the Bei'anmen Inner Primary School. Both schools were inside the Nanjing imperial city, occupying the grounds where the Left and Right Feather Forest Guard barracks stood. They faced each other across Bei'anmen Inner Street.

According to Zhu Cilang's original plan, after Princess Dong'e was brought to Nanjing she was to be lodged in the Old Mountain Palace. But unexpectedly, the girl had asked many mathematics questions in her letters to Zhu Cilang. This delighted the Zhu Emperor beyond measure — here was someone who spoke his language!

So he brought her into Nanjing and enrolled her in the Jinling Girls' School.

(End of Chapter)