After the meeting, Yan Siqi sent Yang Tiansheng to interrogate the prisoners, but unexpectedly asked a big secret.
It turns out that the Shimazu clan has captured Ryukyu and has been paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty in the name of Ryukyu.
They robbed Ryukyu of supplies, especially the tribute given by the Ming Dynasty, which made their economic situation very good, so their equipment was actually better than Some genealogical names are stronger.
However, Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
This was a serious diplomatic incident.
Yan Siqi immediately passed the information to Jeju and handed it over to Ma Shiying.
Ma Shiying couldn't be ignored and sent someone to the capital and the palace as quickly as possible.
After receiving the report, Zhu Youxiao quickly convened an emergency meeting with ministers to discuss the Ryukyu issue.
Why is it so urgent?
Because Ryukyu can be called the first vassal state in the minds of the Ming Dynasty.
Starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, Ryukyu was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang gave the Fujian people thirty-six surnames to immigrate to Zhongshan State to help local shipbuilding to facilitate travel.
Before the Longqing switch, Ryukyu was the vassal state that paid the most tribute to China, and the Ming Dynasty gave Ryukyu the greatest preferential treatment, known as "Little China".
The Ming Dynasty often paid high prices for the "tributes" or commodities it brought to the Ryukyu people.
For example, the price of pepper in its country of origin is ten cents per catty.
The purchase price of pepper transported by merchant ships from other countries is three cents per catty and one thousand cents per catty.
However, the purchase price of pepper brought by Ryukyu merchant ships is as high as thirty cents per catty.
Therefore, this kind of trade in the name of tribute was extremely profitable, which also showed the difference between Ryukyu and other vassal states in the eyes of the Ming court.
The Japanese were very greedy for the huge profits from the tribute trade of Ryukyu.
After the failure of the Korean War, the Sino-Japanese war led the Ming Dynasty to ban trade with them.
The Satsuma Domain, located at the southernmost tip of Kyushu Island, was financially exhausted, so they proposed : "There is no other solution except placing Ryukyu under the territorial control and allowing it to freely use it as an intermediary in trade with the Ming Dynasty."
In the thirty-eighth year of Wanli, with the consent of the Tokugawa shogunate, the lord of the Satsuma domain, Shimazu Tadatsune, sent more than 3,000 troops and more than 100 ships to invade Ryukyu southward.
They carried 700 matchlock guns, and the entire Ryukyu Kingdom had not fought for more than a hundred years, and its armaments were depleted.
It only had 500 bows, 300 pieces of armor, and 300 guns.
Naturally, they were defeated in one blow.
The Satsuma generals, led by the general Kaguyama Hisaka, took the lead and divided them into four groups.
They spent seven or eight days seizing all the gold, silver, silk and valuables in Shuri, the former capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
The Satsuma Domain forced the King of Ryukyu to submit an oath, emphasizing that Ryukyu has been a vassal of the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma Domain since ancient times, and the King of Ryukyu must be loyal to the Lord of the Satsuma Domain from generation to generation; the Japanese-style "territory inspection" was implemented in Ryukyu to determine the stone of Ryukyu.
The maximum annual output is 127,000 koku; the five islands of the Amami Islands in the northern part of Ryukyu, with a stone height of about 33,000 koku, were privately ceded to the Satsuma clan.
Ryukyu also paid taxes to the Shimadzu family of 9,000 koku every year, as well as other various Plant supplies.
This was the basic situation that came out of the interrogation.
After the clerk read it out, the whole court was silent, but most of the officials had angry expressions on their faces.
Zhu Youxiao asked: "Is there any abnormality in Ryukyu's tribute in recent years?"
Zhu Yanxi, the Minister of Rites, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I have been serving in the Ministry of Rites before, and I have hosted the tribute envoys in the past few years.
The Ryukyu envoys' clothes, documents, and goods are all normal, but the goods are a bit more than before, but because of Ryukyu is a loyal vassal of our dynasty, so the Ministry of Rites doesn’t care much about it.”
Zhu Youxiao said: "This matter is related to the Ministry of Rites.
Please tell me how to deal with it."
Zhu Yanxi bowed and said: "The last time Korea was just a replacement of the throne, Yuan Futai even said that he would conquer Korea.
Today, I know that Ryukyu has suffered like this.
Please ask your Majesty to conquer Japan and restore Ryukyu."
Zhu Youxiao looked at other officials and saw that Fang Congzhe and Ye Xianggao were the first to kneel down: "Your Majesty, please conquer Japan and restore Ryukyu."
The other officials followed suit and knelt on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, please conquer Japan.
Japan, for the restoration of Ryukyu.”
Zhu Youxiao was a little surprised.
These officials who usually didn't like fighting were so unanimous this time, which was somewhat beyond his expectation.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
In fact, he didn't understand that Ming Dynasty officials did not like to attack other people's places.
For example, some officials were disapproving of the Jeju Island incident last time.
But now that someone else has hit you in the face first, then your uncle can really bear it, but your aunt can't bear it anymore.
Just like in the original history, the war with Hou Jin was always at a disadvantage, but no one dared to openly negotiate for peace.
Chen Xinjia finally made a peace treaty under Chongzhen's instruction, but as soon as the incident was revealed, he was killed by Chongzhen as a scapegoat.
It was rare for everyone to agree, so Zhu Youxiao stood up and said: "First send troops to capture the Satsuma domain, restore the Ryukyu Kingdom, and send envoys to hold Japan accountable.
If the answer is not satisfactory, we will conquer the whole of Japan."
The ministers shouted together: "The Emperor is wise."
After the court meeting, the cabinet ministers and the six ministers still stayed in the palace to discuss the conquest.
First, Fang Congzhe, Ye Xianggao and others wrote an article on the history and current situation of Ryukyu and published it in a weekly newspaper to let the public understand why this war was fought.
Then there is the specific matter of sending troops.
Because the First Division of the Guards is in southern Liaoning and the Second Division has to contain Hou Jin on Juehua Island, there is no way to move.
The first section of the independent brigade has arrived in Japan, and the only way to increase its strength is to use the third division.
As for Han Xu's suggestion to use the Fujian navy, Zhu Youxiao rejected it.
The Dutch are far from quiet now, and no one knows when there will be a war.
Therefore, it was finally decided that Zhou Yuji would lead two infantry battalions and one artillery battalion to Japan, join Mangui, and conquer the Satsuma Domain together.
At this time, the shogunate had received the battle report, and Tokugawa Hidetada scolded fiercely: "When they fought against us, they seemed to be very powerful.
When they encountered a group of pirates, they ended up like this.
It's really satisfying."
The shogunate's mood towards foreign daimyo was very complicated.
On the one hand, they had to guard against them, fearing that they might oppose the shogunate.
Therefore, losing to pirates and thus weakening their strength was of course what the shogunate wanted to see.
But on the other hand, I felt that I couldn't even defeat the pirates, and I had lost the face of the daimyo, which meant that I had lost the face of the shogunate.
Despite the criticism, Hirado must be defeated.
Although it does not mean that the territory must be regained for the Matsuura family, at least a Chinese pirate must not be allowed to rob Japan.
It's okay for everyone to fight in the den, but naturally they have to work together to fight back when outsiders come to fight.
This time Tokugawa Hidetada learned the lesson of underestimating the enemy last time and decided to send out multiple daimyo to attack together.
Of course, Nagato, Chikuzen, and Satsuma Sanbo who originally participated will still participate.
In addition, Chikugo, Higo, Bunzen, Bungo, Shu Fang, Hinata, Iwami, and Izumo will all participate.
They will also send troops directly under Edo to join together and attack Hirado
.
: