Chapter 746 0741 [Ming Feng Enters Japan]

The Ming army withdrew from Heian-kyō very quickly, and took away 3,000 slaves.

Heian-kyō had a population of 200,000, and most of them were slaves.

Including the non-noble samurai in the capital, they were also slaves, but they were more valued. Many of these low-level samurai in Heian-kyō were descendants of the early central army, and were divided and occupied by the powerful as private slaves, and passed down from generation to generation as family sons.

It was easy for each family to gather 3,000 slaves, and Zhu Xiaozhong would of course take them to mine.

If the gold and silver mines in the three places were fully mined, more than 100,000 people would be needed.

But there was no rush for the time being, and it had to be done step by step, otherwise it would be too troublesome to manage, and food supply would also be a problem.

After confirming that the Ming army had left, Emperor Toba immediately returned with the court officials and the northern samurai, and sent people to Nara to recruit a large number of monks for battle.

He issued an edict to all counties and states, declaring Fujiwara no Tadashi and his son as traitors, and that they had kidnapped Emperor Sutoku. He also called on the nobles, monks, and powerful families in the Kinki region, as well as the local powerful families along the Seto Inland Sea, to come to the capital to wipe out the evil, and those who made contributions could obtain the status of nobles.

Fujiwara no Tadamasa was also well prepared. He claimed that Taira no Tadamori had kidnapped Emperor Toba, while Emperor Sutoku and all the nobles in the court had been recognized by the Ming Emperor, and called on the heroes of the world to kill Taira no Tadamori and clear the court.

While he sent people to ask the Ming army for help, he secretly contacted Minamoto no Tameyoshi.

When he felt that Minamoto no Tameyoshi could not be controlled, he also won over other members of the Taira clan and the Minamoto clan, promising them various benefits such as pillars and legitimate streams.

This approach really worked. For example, Minamoto no Tameyoshi came to power because his third uncle assassinated the head of the family, and then put the blame on his second uncle. The second uncle and his son were killed by Minamoto no Tameyoshi, and the third uncle was killed by the second uncle's grandson. The remaining forces of the two families had to obey Minamoto no Tameyoshi.

Fujiwara no Tadashi now tried to win over and instigate, and the grandson of the second uncle immediately responded, declaring that he would avenge his grandfather and father.

Moreover, after the orphan started the army, he did not immediately fight against Minamoto no Tameyoshi, but instead raided and killed the descendants of the third uncle, and successfully took over the manor and subordinate samurai under his name.

Immediately afterwards, the Taira clan also split, and some clansmen turned to Emperor Sutoku and Fujiwara no Tadashi.

The armies of both sides fought a decisive battle in the suburbs at the junction of Heian-kyo and Nara, and there were more than 2,000 monks participating in the battle alone.

Because the samurai under Taira no Tadamori and Minamoto no Tameyoshi suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Iwami Province, their clansmen who stayed in their hometowns split again, and they were defeated after fighting for several days.

The local tyrants who came one after another became the turning point for Emperor Toba.

He granted 20 nobles in one breath. Although they were only low-level nobles, they were enough to make local tyrants fight for it. The tyrants who did not obtain noble status also obtained local official positions below the provincial governor, which also made the tyrants fight for it.

From early summer to autumn, the intensity of the war became more and more intense, and the phenomenon of "one-kiri guerrilla" became less and less.

In order to win, even low-level samurai in the countryside dared to swing their swords at the armored samurai.

Fujiwara no Tadashi looked down on local powerful families, but after suffering losses in succession, he also promised titles and official positions to the powerful families, and successfully won over the powerful forces west of Heian-kyō.

In September, the two sides fought again.

Emperor Toba suddenly came to the battlefield in person, and the morale of the emperor's army was greatly boosted, while the emperor's army was terrified.

Fujiwara no Tadashi was so scared that he dared not go to fight and ordered the army to hold the camp. He sent people back to the capital to bring Emperor Sutoku to him overnight.

Taira no Tadamori led the emperor's army and asked Minamoto no Tameyoshi to take only a small number of samurai and suddenly detoured to Naniwa-kyō.

The Minamoto family had been operating in Osaka for several generations. He promised benefits to merchants and the Buddhist sect, and actually raised thousands of troops within two days. Although these thousands of people were a mob, composed of merchants and monks who believed in the Buddhist school of mind, it was still very scary to suddenly join the battle.

The two armies were confronting each other, and Emperor Sutoku also came to the battlefield in person.

Minamoto Tameyoshi led thousands of mobs, carrying a variety of flags, and suddenly appeared on the side of the battlefield.

The morale of the emperor's army plummeted, and the morale of the retired emperor's army was greatly boosted.

When the two sides fought, the local tyrants who had surrendered to Fujiwara Tadashi actually chose to defect in the battle.

Fujiwara Tadashi fled in panic, and the emperor's army collapsed instantly.

Emperor Sutoku shrank in place and trembled, but the samurai who came to kill him did not dare to do anything, but knelt in a circle in front of the emperor, which was also considered that they had captured the emperor.

…

Retired Emperor Toba returned to Heian-kyō and began a series of aftermath work.

Including Fujiwara Tadashi and his son, more than 30 nobles were exiled - after all, they were relatives and nobles, and could not be killed directly, and exile was already a capital punishment.

The Uomei, represented by the Fujiwara family, officially became the direct line of the Fujiwara Kita family and took over the power left by Fujiwara Tadashi.

Fujiwara Iemoto himself served as the regent, and his sister married the Toba Emperor.

Emperor Sutoku was not deposed, but abdicated and became the retired emperor, and his second brother succeeded him as the emperor.

Toba Emperor became a monk and continued to rule Japan.

Taira Tadamori and Minamoto Tameyoshi were qualified for the inner palace for their great contributions in suppressing the rebellion. The former served as Bizen no Kami, Toba-in steward, and Ukyo no Daifu. The latter served as Owari no Kami, right Konoe no Taisho, and Chugoku no Daisuke.

Twenty-eight powerful people in various counties and kingdoms were granted noble titles, and more than fifty people were granted hereditary national office positions.

Monks in Nara and Osaka obtained a large amount of land from various temples in Heian-kyo, and monks of various factions in Mount Hiei never recovered from this.

Osaka merchants obtained the privilege of conducting maritime trade. Apart from the royal family and the imperial clan, they were the only ones who could trade directly with the Ming Dynasty’s maritime merchants.

From the nobles to the powerful samurai, and then to the monks and merchants, all classes of power in Japan have ushered in a major reshuffle.

The monks of the Buddhist school, who represent the lower-class believers, and the Nara priests, who represent the religious forces of the past, both gained the right to speak in Buddhism. On the one hand, they made friends with the nobles, and on the other hand, they combined with the lower-level nobles and merchants, and Japanese Buddhism developed in the direction of popularization.

From then on, the two forces of the powerful and the merchants rose up and gradually rose.

Then, the Toba Religious Emperor, who had become a monk, ordered that only the Toba Religious Emperor could be written in official documents.

The Emperor Sutoku, who was officially canonized as the King of Japan by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, has now abdicated and can only be called the Sutoku Sho-oh in the future.

The second son of the Emperor who just succeeded to the throne was called the Heavenly King in official documents.

This series of operations was all to please the Ming Dynasty.

The Toba Religious King also officially selected envoys to the Ming Dynasty, who were composed of meritorious nobles, monks, powerful families, and merchants, and took a boat to Kaifeng to meet the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

He also requested the Ming Emperor to send an envoy to confer the title of King of Japan again, on the grounds that the previous king was seriously ill and could not govern.

He even took the initiative to send food to Zhu Xiaozhong, indicating that he agreed to the previous negotiation conditions, and took the initiative to promise to pay an additional 150,000 shi of military rations. However, this year, there was a war, and the compensation of food needed to be paid in installments.

Out of fear of the Ming army and to seize the right to speak, Toba Fawang hired Zhejiang sea merchants as consultants.

The first thing to reform was the makeup of noble women.

He asked his concubines and concubines to put up their long hair and learn to comb the hair of Ming women. A little broad bean eyebrow was also changed to a willow leaf thin eyebrow.

Only the black teeth did not change, after all, this thing could not be washed white for a while.

But Toba Fawang ordered that his underage daughters should not dye their teeth when they reached the age of dyeing.

He also wrote to the Ming Emperor and the Crown Prince in person to express his admiration for the Celestial Empire and hoped to marry a Ming noblewoman as his concubine.

In view of the strong military force displayed by the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese nobles were in awe and worshiped. They also sent people to contact the Ming Dynasty merchants and learned that the most popular literary style in China was "ci ling", so they asked waka artists to follow the Ming Dynasty merchant ships to Zhejiang to learn Chinese ci ling dance and opera.

It was purely admiration for the strong, and had nothing to do with self-reform.

These nobles had long been corrupted. They were not interested in developing productivity, but were just chasing "advanced" fashion trends.

As long as they learned Ming Dynasty lyrics, music, dance and drama, and then performed them slightly in a localized way, they could declare that this was the fashionable "Ming style" and would surely receive countless praises in Heian-kyō.

But long-term exchanges among the people will definitely develop productivity, which is a subtle process.

After the news of Japan's opening of five trading ports was passed back to the Ming Dynasty, merchants in Zhejiang, Fujian, Huainan and Shandong heard the news and moved.

Before the war between the two sides was over, the first batch of Ming Dynasty merchant ships had already sailed into the Seto Inland Sea to do business with Japanese tyrants and merchants.

In the first year, it was just barter, and it was estimated that copper coins would be used next year.

The Ming Dynasty, which had insufficient copper coins in circulation, would inevitably cause more copper coins to be lost after opening up trade with Japan.

However, copper ingots can be exchanged from Japan.

The Ming court has issued an order that merchants who transport precious metals or grains from overseas can obtain certain tariff reductions.

In the first batch of goods, the most sought-after by Japanese nobles, in addition to silk, was paper.

This is due to the progress of China's papermaking technology. Under the deliberate promotion of Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming, the Yangzhou bamboo paper technology has long been spread throughout Sichuan, and in the past two years it has spread to southern provinces.

The rapid prosperity of the printing industry, which has been improved for ten years, has also driven the development of papermaking technology. Not only the bamboo paper technology, but also the leather paper technology has been broken through one after another. The cost of Fujian leather paper and Jiangxi leather paper has been reduced.

The cheap and good paper is very popular in Heian-kyō, which has a serious impact on Japan's fragile papermaking industry.

In a temple outside Heian-kyō, the monk Toba Hokage has moved in.

He looked at the newly-accepted Onna (sister of Fujiwara no Ienari), and the more he looked at her, the more beautiful she felt.

This noble lady is only fourteen years old. She has just dyed her teeth. Now she has stopped dyeing her teeth and brushes her teeth with white salt every day. With the bun-like hair of a Ming Dynasty woman and the curved willow-leaf thin eyebrows, Toba Dharma King actually tasted an exotic style.

It was simply stunning!

What was even more rare was that Fujiwara Ienari also came, and the brother and sister slept together. Toba Dharma King was very happy recently.

This was the most harmonious period between the royal family and the public officials. The newly appointed Minister of Regent had long been a favorite of the Dharma King. And before they got together, Fujiwara Ienari had slept with Toba's grandfather.

How could the Inseikan and the northern samurai show their power?

One of the important evaluation criteria is whether they have slept with the former emperor or the Dharma King!

Toba Dharma King was seriously drawing eyebrows for the beauty, and the beauty's brother Fujiwara Ienari suddenly ran over.

"Your Majesty, I have obtained something good again." Fujiwara Ienari said as if he was offering a treasure.

Toba Dharma King asked: "Is it imported from Ming again?"

Fujiwara Ienari asked the palace servants to boil water and carefully took out a tube of black tea.

As the water boiled, Fujiwara no Ienari brewed tea himself and said, "This is called black tea, which was created by the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty. It can be brewed and eaten, and sugar can also be added. Your Majesty, please enjoy it."

The temperature of the tea dropped slightly, and Toba Hokage took a sip and immediately praised it: "This tea is mellow and sweet, worthy of being created by the Emperor of the Celestial Empire. From now on, the black tea brought by Ming merchants can only be traded with the royal family. The unfinished tea of ​​the royal family can be given to the nobles and samurai."

Fujiwara no Ienari served on Toba's left, and his sister served on Toba's right. The brother and sister coaxed Toba the Dharma King around.

Can the regent get along harmoniously with the one in power?

Fujiwara no Ienari had just taken over the Fujiwara Kita family and had not yet completed the integration with the Uomei family. He now urgently needed Toba's support.

Once the family was integrated, Fujiwara no Ienari would seek more power.

It was only a matter of time before the two fell out.