Chapter 954: No More Diplomacy — Only Matchmaking! (Please Subscribe)

Wei Zaode finally began to understand — the Tokugawa shogunate was plotting to usurp the throne, and it even wanted the Great Ming's support. That was not the problem. If the Tokugawa shogunate could truly change the Empire of Japan into the Kingdom of Japan and make Japan submit to the Celestial Court, then the Celestial Court's sole supremacy over East Asia would be unshakable!

But if civil war broke out in Japan because of the shogunate's usurpation, then Japan's gates would be thrown completely open! And this country had a samurai class that did no productive work and specialized in killing people — and they were numerous, most of them utterly destitute. If the gates were suddenly thrown open, these men would likely be used by the scheming Spaniards and become cannon fodder in their attack on the Celestial Court!

Thinking of this, Wei Zaode opened his mouth and asked, "If the Celestial Court supports the shogunate, will the shogunate launch a war in the near future to suppress the powerful southwestern domains?"

"Of course!" Tokugawa Mitsukuni nodded heavily. "The powerful southwestern domains have always harbored treacherous intentions, wanting to overthrow the shogunate and take its place! If the Shogun takes another step forward, they will certainly seize the chaos to make trouble, so the shogunate must strike first!

And the treacherous intentions of the powerful southwestern domains lie not in their lords and heirs, but in the domain samurai who actually control domain governance. For the lords and heirs have long been under the shogunate's control and cannot stir up any great waves. The truly dangerous ones are those middle- and lower-ranking domain samurai and ronin. Once Japan falls into their hands, even the very foundation of samurai enfeoffment may cease to exist. By then, twenty million people and several hundred thousand samurai will be gathered under a single court — such a Japan would surely become the Celestial Court's mortal enemy!"

In this era, Japan's samurai class had in fact already split into the domain lords, the upper hatamoto class, and the domain samurai and ronin classes.

And what the Tokugawa shogunate represented was actually the upper stratum of domain lords and senior hatamoto. At the same time, the shogunate used the sankin-kotai system to hollow out the domain-lord stratum among the high-ranking samurai, gradually causing them to lose firm control over their own domains.

Therefore, when the Tokugawa shogunate usurped the throne, those who could rise to overthrow the shogunate could not be the hollowed-out domain lords, but only the domain samurai who actually held power and the ronin who dreamed of war.

And after their successful overthrow of the shogunate, they would very likely dissolve the domains and establish a centralized, unified Japan!

Although centralization would ultimately bring about the decline of Japan's samurai class, in the short term it could convert the combat power of Japan's samurai into national strength to the greatest possible extent.

If Japan then received Western support, then before these several hundred thousand samurai were exhausted, Japan would certainly become the Celestial Court's most tenacious enemy.

Therefore, the Tokugawa Shogun being elevated to king was what was most advantageous to the Great Ming Celestial Court. Fighting to the death of several hundred thousand samurai would really be quite troublesome.

Especially since the era of line-infantry volley fire was about to arrive — who would not get a headache seeing these death-defying fellows?

Of course, for the Tokugawa family and the shogunate's senior ministers, this was also the best outcome.

Sakai Tadakiyo said, "So the shogunate hopes the Celestial Court can provide sufficient cannons and dispatch officers to teach gunnery! Once the shogunate's artillery is trained, it will immediately send troops to suppress the southwest!"

This generation of the Tokugawa shogunate was far more decisive when it came to killing people than the Tokugawa shogunate two hundred years later!

Wei Zaode asked, "How long will the war last? Will many ronin take advantage of the chaos to go abroad and make a living, and be hired by the Spaniards?"

"That is only natural!" Tokugawa Mitsukuni said. "Without the shogunate's control, the ronin in Japan can go wherever they please, can they not? Your Excellency the Ambassador, surely the Celestial Court does not fear a few thousand ronin samurai armed by the Spaniards?"

"Fear? Of course not."

Sakai Tadakiyo said, "This is not the shogunate's responsibility — and something even worse may happen!"

"Even worse?"

"Exactly!" Sakai Tadakiyo said. "Because the Spaniards are acting as intermediaries, we cannot rule out that the southwestern domains of Japan will join forces with the Celestial Court's Manchu garrisons, the Mongol rebels, and the roving bandits occupying Sichuan and Yunnan!"

Could such a thing happen? Wei Zaode frowned and thought it over — it did seem to be the case!

Tokugawa Mitsukuni laughed. "Since there is now a Celestial Empire, the borders between the states of East Asia will gradually blur. The states of East Asia will all be under one heaven!

Therefore, the Celestial Court and the Tokugawa family should establish an even closer relationship!"

"Even closer?" Wei Zaode asked. "How could it be closer?"

Sakai Tadakiyo laughed. "By marriage alliance, of course!"

"Marriage alliance?" Wei Zaode asked again. "How should the marriage alliance be arranged?"

Tokugawa Mitsukuni said, "The Shogun is already married to Princess Asamiya, so of course he cannot take a Celestial Court princess as a secondary consort. Therefore, it can only be that the Celestial Court Emperor takes a daughter of the Tokugawa family as an imperial consort! Becoming in-laws with the Celestial Court Emperor will offset the adverse effects of the Celestial Court's recognition of the Japanese Emperor. This is absolutely necessary! I hope Your Excellency the Ambassador can help bring this about!"

Sending a Tokugawa princess into the Celestial Court Emperor's harem was Tokugawa Mitsukuni's idea. This cleverest man of the Tokugawa family had not become a student of Zhu Shunshui (Zhu Zhiyu), so his intelligence was not spent on Confucian learning, but entirely on planning for the Tokugawa family's realm!

Because the Zhu Emperor's elevation of the Japanese Emperor had lowered the Tokugawa family's prestige, Tokugawa Mitsukuni thought of using a marriage alliance to draw the Celestial Court and the Tokugawa family closer.

Wei Zaode laughed. "Such a marriage alliance would certainly please the Son of Heaven! But this nobleman must make one thing clear — the Son of Heaven likes beautiful, tall women. Does the Tokugawa family have such women?"

In fact, the Zhu Emperor did not particularly favor tall women; it was just that Wu Sanmei and Zheng Chagu were both quite tall, so Wei Zaode had formed this impression.

Moreover, the women Lord Wei had seen in Japan were all too short.

"We have them! We have them!" Tokugawa Mitsukuni nodded with a smile. "The Lord of Aizu is tall, and his daughters are all tall and also quite beautiful."

Daughters taking after their fathers is quite likely! Hoshina Masayuki was one of the rare tall men of Japan (presumably Hidetada also liked tall women), and neither his principal wife nor his second wife was a relative, nor of high status, so their looks were naturally not bad.

Wei Zaode nodded with a smile. "That is good, that is good. As long as she is tall and beautiful, this nobleman will guarantee the marriage alliance!"

Nanjing, Old Mountain Palace.

The Great Ming Son of Heaven, the Zhu Emperor, did not yet know that his most trusted chancellor, Wei Zaode, had already turned a proper diplomatic mission into a matchmaking session. But he had already noticed that the borders within the Celestial Court's sphere were disappearing!

In the Hall of Imperial Supremacy at Old Mountain Palace, the newly appointed Marshal's Office strategist Yan Yingyuan was reporting to Zhu Cilang on the Shun invasion of Siam!

The Shun army had chosen to invade at the very moment when the Burmese Toungoo dynasty was at its weakest, and so had taken Ava with great ease, renaming it Anlong Prefecture — clearly intending to make it yet another base territory.

The strategists and staff officers of the Marshal's Office had assumed these roving bandits would spend some time building up Anlong Prefecture, but they had not expected that before Burma was fully pacified, they would launch an invasion of Siam. Moreover, they had drawn in many of the native chieftains formerly under the Toungoo dynasty, and there were signs of European involvement as well.

Siam had enjoyed peace for many years, and its military aristocracy had long since decayed, so it simply could not withstand the Shun invasion and was quickly pushed back to the walls of Ayutthaya by the Shun's celestial soldiers!

The newly enthroned King Narai had no recourse but to seek aid from his suzerain, the Great Ming.

Upon receiving this news, the Zhu Emperor was somewhat exasperated — in this day and age, even suppressing roving bandits required going abroad!

As soon as Yan Yingyuan's report ended, the Zhu Emperor sighed and spoke. "Since the Celestial Court has signed the Treaty of Suzerainty and Vassalage with Siam, and the King of Siam has always abided by the treaty and never violated it, the Celestial Court cannot break its word. It must fulfill its obligations and send troops to protect Siam.

Strategist, has the Marshal's Office calculated how many troops would be appropriate to send?"

Yan Yingyuan said, "Your Majesty, the problem now is not how many troops to send, but whether the expedition will be attacked by the Spaniards en route!"

"What is the situation?"

Yan Yingyuan replied, "The Marshal's Office advisory mission stationed in the Sultanate of Sulu has received reports that Spanish warships are concentrating toward Manila!"

(End of Chapter)