Chapter 1486: Once in History

They say the Japanese shogunate has an unusually close relationship with the Kingdom of Holland in Western Europe, and Holland, lately locked in increasingly fierce warfare with the Kingdom of Spain over southern territories, has a soaring demand for copper. After negotiating with the Japanese shogunate, they decided to purchase copper in large quantities. The shogunate's output cannot simultaneously meet the demands of both our dynasty and Holland. After weighing the matter, they decided to suspend exports to our country for now and satisfy Holland's needs first. However… it seems the Japanese side does not truly wish to offend our country. The shogunate's position is that this is merely a temporary measure to support Holland, and in about a year or so they will restore the original arrangement and make up the shortfall to our country. Moreover, through our previous imports and trade, we have already accumulated a substantial copper reserve. If we go by current consumption rates, sustaining for one to two years should not be a major problem…'

Upon hearing that the shogunate's decision to restrict copper exports to China was not a countermeasure taken because they had detected the Great Han's intention to march troops into Japan, the ministers in attendance visibly breathed a collective sigh of relief.

'Not because they discovered we intend to strike them? That's good, then…' The Chancellor also nodded, his mind set at ease. 'That makes it a perfect reason for us to strike them! Our dynasty needs copper, and they dared to privately suspend copper exports without first explaining to our dynasty — this is contempt for our dynasty, this is a hostile act! The shogunate must be taught a lesson, so they never again dare do anything harmful to our dynasty's interests!'

'The Chancellor is right. Japan is a vassal state of our dynasty, and its ruling shogunate actually dared to do such a thing without the court's consent. This is gross disrespect to our dynasty and must be punished!' Marshal Shi Manqiang also loudly concurred.

Seeing the leading figures of both military and civil administration speak out, the assembled ministers chimed in one after another, clamoring that Japan must be severely punished, so they would never again dare unilaterally do anything harmful to the Great Han's interests. Although Japan was in fact not currently a tributary vassal of the Great Han, none of the ministers paid any attention to such minor details.

Ever since its founding, the Great Han had repeatedly launched wars abroad and fought so that enemies on all sides could not withstand them, victory following upon victory. Nurtured by so many triumphs, a domineering mindset — 'Our Great Han must make all surrounding barbarians submit utterly and will never tolerate any disrespect from them' — had gradually taken root in the court and was spreading among the literate class among the people.

Thus, the ministers felt that Japan's unilateral halt of copper exports to the Great Han, even if only temporary, was an act of disrespect requiring punishment. This was a thought that came from their hearts; they did not find it unreasonable, nor were they merely looking for any convenient pretext.

'Ha, this shogunate is rather amusing. We were just worrying about having no pretext to strike them, and they go and hand us a casus belli!' The Emperor could not help laughing out loud. 'Good — seek benevolence and receive benevolence. We shall use this pretext to go teach them a lesson!'

'Then… should we first negotiate with the shogunate?' This Ministry of Commerce official asked somewhat hesitantly. 'We were just about to send people to negotiate with the shogunate's people, to get them to export as much copper as possible to us…'

'Negotiate — why wouldn't we? Keep negotiating.' The Emperor gave his view. 'A matter this large — if we paid it absolutely no mind, wouldn't that make the Japanese suspicious? Negotiate, but our tone need not be too forceful. Just raise the issue and leave it at that. Drag the matter out for now, and when the final moment comes, break off negotiations and directly raise troops against Kyushu. Let them know the might of the Great Han!'

The Emperor's intent, it seemed, was to maintain negotiations for now while not letting the shogunate feel any pressure, lest they actually lift the export ban and waste this casus belli in vain. The negotiations would also lull the shogunate, keeping them blind to China's imminent military action.

'This minister understands.' The Ministry of Commerce official immediately bowed in salute. 'This minister shall return and send men to negotiate with the shogunate's Tianjin agency.'

During the Great Ming era, China and Japan once had very close diplomatic and trade relations, conducted under the name of tributary missions.

But later, the Ashikaga shogun family that ruled Japan fell into internal strife. The Hosokawa and Ōuchi families, powerful ministers of the shogunate, sidelined the shogun and then raised troops against each other in civil war — known to history as the Ōnin War. From that point, Japan entered the 'Warring States period.'

During the Ōnin War, the Ōuchi clan rose swiftly and began contending for the China trade originally controlled by the Hosokawa clan, independently sending missions to China to offer tribute, in order to monopolize Japan's trade with China and extract wealth from it to consolidate their own power and military strength.

In the struggle between the two factions for the China trade, fighting over the 'tally' — the China-recognized tribute credential — was of paramount importance. In the second year of the Jiajing reign, both Japanese factions dispatched missions to offer tribute to the Ming dynasty. The Ōuchi envoy was named Sōsetsu Kendō. The Hosokawa envoy was named Rankō Tansa, accompanied by a deputy envoy, a man from Ningbo named Song Suqing (Zhu Gao).

The two fleets arrived at Ningbo in succession. The Ōuchi fleet, holding a valid tally, arrived first; the Hosokawa fleet, holding an expired tally, arrived later. For reasons unknown, the Zhejiang Maritime Trade Office did not promptly inspect the first-arriving Ōuchi fleet's tally, but waited until the Hosokawa fleet arrived to inspect both together. Puzzlingly, the later-arriving Hosokawa fleet was instead permitted to enter port and be inspected first, seizing the initiative. Thus, the Ōuchi fleet's valid tally was rendered effectively invalid. What further enraged the Ōuchi envoy Sōsetsu Kendō was that at the welcome banquet held by the Maritime Trade Office at the Guest Hall, the Hosokawa chief and deputy envoys Rankō Tansa and Song Suqing were seated in positions of precedence above Sōsetsu Kendō. The two sides erupted into fierce quarreling at the banquet, yet the Ming officials continued to show partiality to the Hosokawa trade envoys.

After receiving such cold treatment, Sōsetsu Kendō's fury finally spun out of control. He ordered his men to take up arms and attack the Hosokawa mission on the spot. In the fighting, the Hosokawa envoys, caught utterly off guard, fled the banquet. Sōsetsu Kendō then set fires, burning down the Guest Hall, and then rushed back to the harbor and torched the Hosokawa fleet.

The Hosokawa chief and deputy envoys Rankō Tansa and Song Suqing fled Ningbo. Sōsetsu Kendō pursued them all the way to Shaoxing, then fought his way back to Ningbo. Many Ming soldiers and innocent civilians were killed along the pursuit route, and multiple Ming military officers also perished. In the end, Sōsetsu Kendō seized a ship at Ningbo and put out to sea, also taking captive the Ming Regional Commander Yuan Jin, whom he had captured.

In towering rage, the Great Ming court ordered the arrest of the Hosokawa chief and deputy envoys Rankō Tansa and Song Suqing. As for the escaped Ōuchi mission, one of their ships was blown by the wind to the Korean coast, and Korea bound all several dozen aboard and delivered them to the Ming state. After cross-examining all parties, it was discovered that the root of the calamity lay in the Hosokawa deputy envoy Song Suqing bribing the eunuch Lai En, superintendent of the Zhejiang Maritime Trade Office. Lai En perverted the law to favor the Hosokawa, leading to this great storm. The verdict was that Song Suqing was sentenced to death.

Although this storm caused heavy casualties, the Great Ming did not immediately cancel Japan's tribute privileges. Several years later, in the fourth year of Jiajing, the Jiajing Emperor finally ordered the Ryukyu tribute envoy to deliver a letter to the King of Japan, demanding that Sōsetsu Kendō be arrested and brought to justice, or else tribute relations would be severed. But no reply ever came; the Japanese side never agreed to the Great Ming's demand.

The Great Ming court was at last enraged. In the sixth year of Jiajing, the Regional Inspector Yang Yi submitted a memorial requesting that four restrictions be reaffirmed for Japanese tribute missions: one mission every ten years, one hundred men, three ships, and a ban on carrying weapons — all to be enforced in accordance with the old regulations.

The court promptly approved, explicitly stipulating that for Japanese tribute, 'any mission outside the scheduled period, or with more than one hundred men, more than three ships, or carrying many weapons, shall all be turned back' — as a fixed rule. Later, the Supervising Secretary Xia Yan, who would rise to the position of Chief Grand Secretary, simply submitted a memorial suggesting the abolition of the Maritime Trade Office. The court accepted, and the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office was shut down. The abolition of the Maritime Trade Office in effect completely severed legal trade between China and Japan, whereupon Sino-Japanese trade was gradually driven underground, and smuggling became rampant.

After the new dynasty was established, because the new dynasty had from the start placed great emphasis on commerce, and the Cloud Mountain Firm had already been transferred into the hands of the Ministry of Commerce, trade with Japan was brought back into legal channels, managed exclusively by the government.

Since Japan at this point could no longer be considered a tributary state of the Great Han, this trade became ordinary state-to-state trade. To facilitate transactions and exchanges between the two sides, and to reduce trade disputes caused by poor communication, the Great Han's Ministry of Commerce set up an agency in Nagasaki Harbor, and the Japanese shogunate set up an agency in Tianjin, each responsible for its own country's trade matters.

Since the Emperor said negotiations were to continue, he planned to go to Tianjin in person the next day to negotiate with the shogunate's agency.

Time passed moment by moment. The ministers in attendance today had discussed the basic strategy for operations against Japan and the pretext for war, reaching their conclusions. Unknowingly, they had been discussing for a long time; everyone felt their mouths dry and tongues parched, and the tea in their cups was nearly finished.

'Everyone, take a short rest. Have some tea and refresh your spirits.' Seeing the ministers' energy flagging, the Emperor simply ordered the meeting halted for now. 'Alright, we shall adjourn for the time being!'

With that, the Emperor directly left the council hall with the Crown Prince. The remaining ministers also let out a collective breath, each rising and heading toward the tea room.

However, unexpectedly, apart from those minor officials who had mostly been summoned merely to listen, the high officials who had been given a chance to rest did not show much relief in their expressions. Instead, each wore a grave look, as if all harbored private concerns.

As soon as the Chancellor stepped out of the hall, he called the Finance Minister and Kong Zhang, Zhou Pu, and a few others into a tea alcove. After the attendants served tea, he first took a composed sip, then looked approvingly at Zhou Pu, who had just spoken so eloquently in the hall. 'Zhihe, you are indeed young and promising. That performance just now truly gratified me. If only all the men under me had your courage and mind…'

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