Chapter 741 0736 [Three Hundred Years of Leased Land]

Giving the bow and arrow to the guards, Ju Ming took off his helmet and looked down at the people in front of him: "Do you have full authority to represent the Japanese king?"

As a nominal envoy, Monk Yuanxin replied: "We were appointed by the Emperor to come to the Ming Dynasty to discuss the matter of Shi Jianguo."

Ju Ming asked: "Who can speak most effectively, but just stand up, I'm too lazy to talk nonsense with you."

After more than ten seconds of silence, someone finally stepped forward.

He was neither the chief envoy, Monk Yuanxin, nor the deputy envoy, Dajiang Weishun, but he was a young man in his early twenties.

Ju Ming sat down on his horse and Jin Dao, then moved out a bench to sit on, and said, "Please introduce yourself to your family."

As expected, the young man introduced himself to his family, without mentioning his official position: "Greetings to His Highness the Ming Dynasty Crown Prince. I am Fujiwara Ienari, of the famous Fujiwara Hokui family."

The Fujiwara family is not a monolithic family, divided into the Northern family, the Southern family, the Shiki family, and the Kyo family.

Currently, the Fujiwara Hokage controls the government, and its influence continues until the Meiji Restoration.

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government had 137 households, 93 of which were from the Fujiwara Kita family.

The Fujiwara Kita family continued to branch out, such as the famous Murasaki Shikibu, which came from the direct branch of the Fujiwara Kita family.

Fish celebrities belong to another lineage.

The fish celebrities also continued to branch into branches, one was the Gong family and the other was the Wu family.

The Fujiwara Ienari in front of me came from the famous private branch of Fujiwara Kitaiyu.

His great-grandmother was the nanny of Emperor Shirakawa, and she rose rapidly with the help of Shirakawa's administration.

Emperor Toba is now starting a new business, and Fujiwara Ienari, representing the famous Fujiwara family, pulled a group of Shirakawain political officials, Ma Liu, to join him.

This man was Emperor Toba's absolute confidant, and later even became his first favorite.

His daughter later married Taira Kiyomori's eldest son.

Of course, Ju Ming couldn't figure out a lot of this. He only needed to know that what the person in front of him said was effective.

As a result, the chief envoy and deputy envoys all stepped aside, and Fujiwara Ienari was called to the front.

"Does the Japanese king still want to fight?" Zhu Ming asked directly.

Fujiwara Ienari did not answer directly, but protested: "Excuse me, Your Highness the Prince of Ming Dynasty, Ishimi Country and Tsushima Island are our Japanese territory, why did the Ming Kingdom send troops to occupy them without authorization?"

Ju Ming asked: "A few years ago, Xue Daoguang led his fleet to sea. Why was it attacked by the Japanese army?"

Fujiwara Ienari explained: "It was a misunderstanding, and our emperor was opposed to it at the time. Although our soldiers raided the Tang army, those Tang troops also looted along our coast. In detail, our country's losses were even greater. Furthermore, The Tang army at that time was sent by the Song Dynasty, not the Ming Dynasty, and there was no conflict between Japan and the Ming Dynasty."

Ju Ming said: "No matter Song or Ming, they are all Chinese!"

Fujiwara Ienari said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's words are too strong and unreasonable."

"So what if you use strong words to make excuses?" Zhu Ming said: "The name of Japan was given by Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty. The name of Japan was given by Empress Wuzhou. Both Japan and Japan are vassal states of China. Now Japan has been a vassal state for a long time. If you don’t come to court, the Ming Dynasty will send troops to punish one or two. Do you need any other reason? "

Does a father need a reason to beat his son?

For a moment, Fujiwara Ienari had nothing to say.

The name of the country "Japan" was indeed given by Emperor Guangwu, and the "Yamato" nation was also born here.

Although the country name of Japan was changed by the Japanese themselves, they always hoped to be recognized by the Tang Dynasty. From the time of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, he begged and begged until Wu Zetian usurped the country, and finally obtained the official permission of the Tang Dynasty.

The name of the country and the clan were given by the Chinese emperor. Instead of paying tribute, the Japanese emperor attacked the Chinese fleet without permission. This is treason!

Deputy envoy Dajiang Weishun finally spoke: "Your Highness, the emperor of our country has just started the administration of the court this year and is correcting past mistakes. This time the envoy came to China to ask the Ming Emperor for canonization and resolve the conflicts caused by previous misunderstandings."

Fujiwara Ienari quickly said: "That's exactly it!"

Ju Ming asked: "How does the Japanese king want to solve it?"

Oe Weishun said: "Japan is willing to bow to the Ming Dynasty and request the Ming Dynasty to enthrone the king of Japan. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will be the suzerain and Japan will be a vassal."

Ju Ming asked again: "If merchants from the suzerain country go to the vassal country to trade, can the vassal country stop them?"

Oe Weishun said: "Merchants from the Ming Dynasty can trade in Namba Kyo (Osaka)."

At this time, Osaka was controlled by a large group of monks, also mixed with the influence of Onmyoji, and all merchants took refuge in religious groups.

But in the past few decades, Emperor Shirakawa has been suppressing monks, and Taira Tadamori punished the monks of Mount Hiei many times. The imperial family has already reached out to the port in Osaka, but it is still barely possible to build an exclusive port for Sino-Japanese trade.

Ju Ming finally understood that as the Japanese envoy, Monk Enxin was purely a mascot. Fujiwara Ienari, Emperor Toba's confidant, was too young to actually negotiate.

The core figure of the mission must be Dajiang Weishun.

Ju Ming asked: "The merchants from the suzerain country can only trade here when they arrive in the vassal country. Is there such a truth in the world? Now that the Ming Dynasty has opened the sea, the Japanese fleet can trade in any port. Similarly, the Ming Dynasty merchant ships , and should be able to trade at any port in Japan.”

Fujiwara Ienari looked at a samurai, Taira Tadamasa, Taira Tadamori's younger brother, who served as the escort captain of the mission this time.

Taira Taira nodded quietly, and Fujiwara Ienari smiled.

Immediately, Fujiwara Ienari said: "Our country is willing to repair Owata Tomari (Kobe Port) and open an additional trade port between the two countries."

Over in Kobe, the Taira family was extremely powerful.

Moreover, this was one of the five major ports in Japan during the Heian period, and it gradually became deserted due to the seclusion of the Emperor Shirakawa.

Historically, Taira no Kiyomori made this place a Sino-Japanese trade center and did business with the Southern Song Dynasty vigorously. He even forced Japan to move its capital here, but the resistance was too great and soon caused chaos.

Fujiwara no Ienari could represent his family and partner with the Taira clan to engage in Sino-Japanese trade.

The money earned from maritime trade could also be shared by Fujiwara no Yumei, Taira clan and Emperor Toba.

Oe Noshun said again: "If two ports are not enough, Jiangdu (Tokyo, Japan) can also open a port."

Jiangdu is the core territory of the Oe clan, and Oe Masafosa has been operating there for decades.

These Japanese envoys are actually willing to open the sea.

However, to open the sea, a port must be determined, and the port must be on their territory.

Zhu Ming carefully observed the expressions of these people and could basically guess what was going on. He said, "Three ports are not enough. We must open five ports for trade."

Five ports are enough for the Japanese royal family and nobles to compete for. We must not let one or two forces monopolize the trade.

Da Jiang Weishun said, "Five ports are too many. We need to return to the country to ask the emperor for instructions."

"Okay." Zhu Ming smiled.

Fujiwara no Ienari asked: "Your Highness, the two countries have opened up the sea for trade, and the Ming Dynasty has appointed the king of Japan. After these two things are achieved, can the Ming Dynasty withdraw its troops from Iwami Province and Tsushima Island?"

"No," Zhu Ming refused, "Abiru Motomori of Tsushima Island does not recognize that it is Japanese territory."

Oe Nobuyuki immediately refuted: "Your Highness, Tsushima Province is one of the Japanese Ritsuryo provinces. The Abiru family has always been the official in the Tsushima Province appointed by the Dazaifu, and there are even nobles in Heian-kyo who remotely serve as the governor of Tsushima Province. On the contrary, the position of Tsushima no Kami was assumed by the Abiru family, and our country did not appoint any nobles as Tsushima no Kami!"

Oe Nobuyuki was telling the truth, and it was Abiru Motomori who was talking nonsense.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the name "Tsushima Province" already existed, and it was one of the many ancient countries in Japan.

Zhu Ming ignored all this and said in a very domineering manner: "The Abiru clan has ruled Tsushima Island for generations, and now they have offered land to the Ming Dynasty."

Da Jiang Weishun said angrily: "Your Highness, the Ming Dynasty is already rich, so why do you want to occupy the poor country of Tsushima? It is neither righteous nor polite for the suzerain to annex the territory of the vassal!"

Zhu Ming said: "The Ming Dynasty has not yet crowned the king of Japan, and even the previous Song Dynasty did not crown the king of Japan. How can it be said that it is a relationship between the suzerain and the vassal? The Abiru clan offered Tsushima Island to the Ming Dynasty, what does this have to do with Japan?"

Da Jiang Weishun asked: "How can the Ming Dynasty return these two countries?"

Zhu Ming said: "Tsushima Island, my Ming Dynasty will decide. If the King of Japan no longer entangles this place, then Iwami Province can consider returning it. The so-called return means changing occupation to lease."

"Lease?" Da Jiang Weishun didn't understand.

Zhu Ming explained: "That is, Iwami Province is still Japanese territory, but it must be leased to the Ming Dynasty for 300 years. It doesn't need too much land. Just lease Iwami Province Castle and Mount Omori, and the annual rent is 1,000 taels of silver."

1,000 taels of silver?

If only the castle and Mount Omori are leased, it doesn't seem to be a losing deal.

The place is originally poor, with mountains everywhere and no special products. The annual tribute around the castle and Mount Omori is actually less than 1,000 taels of silver.

Since the Ming Dynasty likes it, just lease it out.

Anyway, the other areas of Iwami Province can be taken back without bloodshed, which is the most favorable solution at present.

Back to Shifang Pavilion, the Japanese envoys began to discuss.

Fujiwara no Ienari said: "The Ming Kingdom only wants Iwami Castle and Mount Omori, so just give them there. And it's just a lease, and it's still Japanese territory, which is not a loss of face for the country. If you lease Iwami Castle, you can build a national castle somewhere else."

Oe Noriyuki was suspicious: "What is the Ming Kingdom doing? They raised troops across the sea, but only leased two pieces of land. It's a complete loss-making business."

Tadamasa Taira said: "My brother went to Iwami Castle in person to inquire, and heard that the Ming emperor sent the Yin-Yang master to Mount Omori to find immortals in order to seek immortality. Perhaps the Ming Kingdom has to lease Daqing Mountain at a loss just to obtain the elixir of immortality."

"That should be the case. I heard that they also killed the monks of Mount Omori." Monk Yuanxin was quite horrified by this.

In the absence of information, these envoys discussed repeatedly and believed that the lease could be discussed and was the best way to solve the problem.

On the Japanese court side, leasing the two pieces of land would even make more money than the previous annual tribute.