Chapter 31 Chapter 10: The No. 1 Scam in East Asia (Part 2)

In the ranks of the Japanese army in Busan at that time, in addition to the Japanese and Koreans, there were also many Ming people who were taken captive to Japan.They either act as the lowest-level ashigaru like Su Ba, or serve as a coordinator like Zhang Dashan. After Shen Weijing left, Li Zongcheng lived in Busan City.On April 2, he met two Fujianese.These two people, one named Xiao Heming and the other named Wang Sanwei, both served in the Japanese army, came here specially to report a terrible news to the Ming envoy. Xiao Heming and Wang Sanwei told Li Zongcheng: Hideyoshi had no intention of begging for peace, and planned to send troops to arrest the two envoys, ask Daming for bribes, and start another war.They even inquired about the detailed terms of the "Show Seven Articles" and told them all.

Hideyoshi's tough attitude is not a secret in Japan, it has been rumored in the military for a long time, it is not surprising that Xiao Heming and Wang Sanwei know about it.I just don’t know whether they took the huge risk to report to the Ming envoy out of patriotism, or whether they hoped to make meritorious service and atone for their crimes and return to Daming. The news brought by Xiao and Wang scared Li Zongcheng to pieces.He is just a dude, who can barely cope with reciting poems and doing right things, but now he suddenly has to face swords and soldiers, his mentality has changed drastically, and everything is like a weapon.Every slight move of the Japanese army became very suspicious in the eyes of Li Zongcheng. He was in constant panic, feeling that fierce Japanese pirates would break into the camp at any time.

After a night of torment, Li Zongcheng made a very stupid decision-to escape. It is a big diplomatic joke that a dignified envoy of the Ming Dynasty personally appointed by the emperor ran away. At the second watch on April 3rd, Li Zongcheng did not disturb Yang Fangheng, but secretly called several of his confidantes, carried their burdens and put on their veils, and dressed up like ordinary officials.He told the Japanese guards guarding the Chengmen Gate in Busan that there was an urgent official document to be sent out.The guards believed it, so they opened the city gate and let them out.

Li Zongcheng left Busan City and walked all the way towards Gyeongju, but got lost because of the darkness, and bumped into Ulsan by mistake.Ulsan was Kato Kiyomasa's defense zone. Li Zongcheng didn't dare to stay any longer. He ran and jumped headlong into the nearby deep mountain, and then...then lost his way again.He wandered around for three full days and was also hungry for three days. He finally came across a North Korean patrol before arriving in Gyeongju. After Li Zongcheng left, he was not noticed by the Japanese until the next morning.At that time, President Konishi had returned to Japan, and the Busan military affairs were represented by Zong Yizhi.When Zong Yizhi heard that the envoy had run away, he was shocked, and quickly sent heavy troops to surround Yang Fangheng's residence.

Yang Fangheng was born in martial arts, and he was much more courageous than Li Zongcheng. When he heard that he had escaped, he was very calm and continued to sleep with his head surrounded by strong soldiers.Zong Yizhi saw that the deputy envoy was so calm, he ordered the removal of the guards, went into the house himself, and told Yang Fangheng: "Your emissary is running away." Yang Fangheng still had a troubled expression: "That idiot has never seen anything in the world, and he has stayed in the barracks for too long, so he ran away." He made two demands to Zong Yizhi: First, he must not Use violence against the mission; Second, don't go after Li Zongcheng.Zong Yizhi agreed.Yang Fangheng called all the members of the mission and said that now I am the highest officer of the mission and they will all follow my command from now on.His composure brought the chaotic mission back to normal.

After dealing with all this, Yang Fangheng went to Li Zongcheng's residence, and found that the envoy was leaving in a hurry, and the most important golden seal was still thrown in the house.Yang Fangheng held the golden seal in his arms and showed it to the Japanese around him.Zong Yizhi was relieved to see that the seal was still there, and admired Yang Fangheng's calm attitude. In another version, Li Zongcheng saw a beautiful woman at a banquet and went up to molested him on the spot, only to find out that the beautiful woman was Zong Yizhi's wife and the daughter of President Xiaonishi. .The credibility of this statement is too low, but the general public likes this eclectic story, and it is quite popular among the people, and there are even erotic pictures based on it...

Besides, Li Zongcheng fled back to Seoul and reported to the imperial court exactly what Xiao Heming and Wang Sanwei had said about the "Xiu Qi Tiao".When Wanli heard about it, he was furious. He was annoyed at Li Zongcheng's embarrassment, and hated the Japanese for turning back their promises.Li Zongcheng was directly arrested and imprisoned by Jin Yiwei, and was escorted back to Beijing for interrogation. The announcement of the "Seven Points of Show" caused an uproar in Beijing.All the officials of the Ming court were in an uproar, scrambling to impeach me, please stop the matter.The climax of the impeachment was written by Cao Xuecheng, the censor of Youqian capital.In this memorial, Cao Xuecheng directly pointed the finger at Shi Xing and the first assistant Zhao Zhigao, scolded the two ministers bloody, and demanded that they take full responsibility.

Emperor Wanli's reaction was unexpected. He put Cao Xuecheng in prison and forbade any further discussion of the matter. Emperor Wanli did this for three reasons. First, the "Seven Items of Show" provided by Li Zongcheng's testimony is too absurd, and there is a world of difference between them and the "Three Items of Wanli". First of all, after the "Xiu Qitiao" changed his mind, he felt that the attitude of the Japanese pirates had changed too much before and after, and there must be something wrong.Before you figure it out, you can't draw a conclusion and start a war rashly.

Second, Zhao Zhigao is Wanli's best shield against the ministers. Over the past few years, he has protected him from a lot of spittle. Wanli is still unwilling to give up such a useful shield for a while. Zhao Zhigao wants to sue the old man several times Returning home was not approved.Now Wanli will naturally not allow others to use Japan to make a fuss. Third, Naito Ru'an was personally interviewed by Wanli; the canonization of Hideyoshi was a decision made by Wanli himself.Now if the news of Japan's rejection of the canonization breaks out, Daming will lose face and Wanli will lose face.This is not allowed.

Therefore, no matter how unwilling Wanli is, he must put on a stance in the open to maintain the peace talks. It was Shi Xing who suffered more than Wanli. After he heard "Xiu Qitiao", he vaguely felt something was wrong, but he was completely on the boat of the peace agreement, and he couldn't get off.The only thing Shi Xing can do is to bite the bullet and continue to guarantee Shen Weijing. At this time, a life-saving straw floated in front of Wanli and Shi Xing. After Li Zongcheng ran back, Yang Fangheng soon wrote a report back to the court.In the report, Yang Fangheng believed that Li Zongcheng misunderstood the rumors and did not distinguish between the true and the false, coupled with Kato Kiyomasa's deliberate obstruction - this was added at the request of Shen Weijing and President Xiaonishi - which led to the escape.In his report, he specifically emphasized that, according to Soyoshitomo, Hideyoshi is building an embassy to welcome the Ming envoy, and it will be completed soon-note that Yang Fangheng has been in the Busan camp all the time, and his sources of information are all Japanese generals. It's hard to argue.

But Wanli and Shi Xing no longer cared about distinguishing the authenticity from the fake.They took Yang Fangheng's report as evidence and believed that the so-called "Xiu Qitiao" was an unverified rumor and the canonization should continue.Therefore, the Ministry of War suggested to Emperor Wanli that another envoy should be sent to join Yang Fangheng to continue the canonization, and at the same time ordered the Ming troops stationed in North Korea and Liaodong to prepare for war. But at this time, it was too late to send people from Beijing, Shi Xing simply promoted Shen Weijing to deputy envoy on the spot, and Yang Fangheng was promoted to chief envoy.This action shows that Shi Xing and Shen Weijing are already grasshoppers on the same rope, one is damaged and the other is prosperous...not necessarily both.Shi Xing has already scolded Shen Weijing hundreds of thousands of times in his heart, and once he gets rid of the routine, he will definitely be the first to let this old liar go. At the same time that Beijing's order was sent to Busan, Shen Weijing happened to have just returned from Japan.No one knows what he did in Japan in the past few months, whether he pretended to be an envoy of Ming Dynasty, whether Hideyoshi rehearsed his etiquette.But as soon as Shen Weijing returned to Busan, the Japanese army immediately withdrew the defenders of Xishengpu and Zhudao, indicating that he had another secret discussion with Xingchang Xiaonishi. Yang Fangheng was also a little anxious at this time, and wanted to go to Japan to settle the matter.He was no longer obsessed with the withdrawal of all Japanese troops. As soon as he saw the retreat of the defenders in Xishengpu and Takeshima, he said that he would leave for Japan as soon as possible. While Shen Weijing got Ming Envoy's side settled, Governor Konishi sent good news that the last Kato Kiyomasa who hindered their plan was also finished. Li Zongcheng's escape was a completely unprepared accident for the Japanese.But Xiaoxi has a good brain, and is best at seizing unexpected opportunities. Once the escape happened, he realized that this was an excellent opportunity to bring down Kato Kiyomasa. After Mr. Konishi returned to Japan, he sued Kiyomasa Kato through Hideyoshi through Ishida Mitsunari for three crimes: 1. He made rude remarks in front of the Koreans, and made them lose his prestige; In the correspondence, he claimed that Feng Chen was honest and upright, which was an arrogance; his subordinates were weak and allowed his subordinates to rob the Ming envoy, so that Li Zongcheng fled. The first two charges are variables that can be large or small, and it is not a big deal to take them out alone, but if they are combined with other charges, the effect will be doubled.So killing with real interests is the third crime.Hideyoshi was very concerned about the surrender of the Ming Dynasty. When he heard that Qingzheng, a bastard, had scared away the envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty to pay his respects, he was very angry. The paper transfer order transferred him back to the country and locked him in Fushimi City to wait for his release. Kato Kiyoshi was raised by Hideyoshi with one hand, and his feelings are very deep. This time the punishment is so severe, it can be seen that Hideyoshi is really angry. The last obstacle was removed. On June 15th, the Ming Dynasty's chief and deputy envoys and North Korean correspondent Huang Shen left Pusan, and arrived at Fushimi Castle in early July after half a month's long journey. Fushimi Castle is located on Fushimi Mountain near Kyoto and is the base camp of Hideyoshi.After the embassy arrived, they were not received immediately, because Hideyoshi was very upset when he heard that North Korea only sent messengers, but failed to send a prince as a hostage as required, so he ordered the envoys to live in the newly built embassy Here, don't rush to arrange a meeting, I plan to let them hang out before talking, This airing caused a big trouble, an earthquake... In July of the twenty-fourth year of Wanli, a major earthquake occurred in the Kyoto area.The scale of the earthquake was so great that it almost razed the vicinity of Kyoto to the ground, and almost all the houses within a hundred miles were gone.Even the fortified Fushimi Castle couldn't stand it, and it collapsed, killing hundreds of people—it was Hideyoshi's luck that he wasn't in the city at the time, otherwise our story would have ended here. By the way, the prison cell in Fushimi Castle also collapsed at that time, and Kato Kiyomasa took the opportunity to run out, yelling to protect Hideyoshi.This move won Hideyoshi's favor, and in addition, Qing was raised by Hideyoshi's wife Ning Ning, and Ning Ning also stood up to intercede, so Hideyoshi lifted his ban and returned to the North Korean front. The envoys of Ming Dynasty were also affected by this natural disaster.They were staying in the newly built welcome building when the earthquake struck.Fortunately, the house is relatively new and relatively strong, which gave me a little buffer time.These people ran out of the house in a swarm, still in shock, and the building collapsed behind them.After counting the number of people, all the senior officials were fine, but a general manager, a poor official and four servants were crushed to death. Yang Fangheng was quite happy that he survived the catastrophe.The earthquake is an ominous omen. Japan launched an unjust war, and it deserves retribution.If Hideyoshi saw that God was angry with his evil deeds, he would obediently put away his ambition and accept the canonization. It's a pity that Hideyoshi didn't turn over a new leaf as Yang Fangheng wished. The only thing he changed was the meeting place. The earthquake caused great losses to Japan. After the catastrophe, all kinds of troubles were disturbed. Hideyoshi was busy until the end of August, and then he notified the Ming envoys, and decided to meet the Ming envoys on September 2. The place was from The defunct Fushimi Castle was changed to Osaka Castle, but it refused to accompany the North Korean messenger. In any case, Hideyoshi was finally willing to meet the Daming Mission, which is always a good thing. Yang Fangheng didn't know that Shen Weijing and President Xiaoxi were already intensively preparing for the last step of their plan, which was also the most dangerous step. In the early morning of September 1st, Mori Terumoto, one of the five elders, personally went to the place where the envoys were staying, and politely led the envoys to the main hall of Osaka Castle.In the main hall, the powerful daimyos of the Toyotomi regime, such as the Five Elders and the Five Bongsho, had gathered together, holding their breaths and waiting for the canonization ceremony to begin. Before that, Shen Weijing had already told Yang Fangheng that Japan's national conditions were different, so he should try to simplify the Da Mingyi as much as possible, and return to China as soon as possible after the canonization.So Yang Fangheng didn't go through such a set of red tape, he stood in the center holding a festival, Shen Weijing was holding a golden seal to accompany him, and an imperial guard Xu Denggui was holding the edict, imperial edict and crown uniform. They waited for a long time, and the yellow curtain in the distance slowly opened, and a thin, withered old man walked out slowly with a cane.Hideyoshi's health was already worrying at this time, so he had to be supported by two attendants.But Master Guan Bai's official prestige is still there, as soon as he appeared on the stage, the guards in the hall shouted together, quite imposing. Hideyoshi arrived at the seat and just sat down.Shen Weijing suddenly fell to his knees and kowtowed to the Supreme Ruler of Japan.Yang Fangheng was stunned by this move. What they held in their hands was Emperor Wanli's festival, which represented the will of Emperor Ming, and they didn't need to bow down to anyone. But, why is this Shen Weijing so weak in his knees?What kind of canonization etiquette is this? Yang Fangheng couldn't figure it out, but Shen Weijing was like a mirror in his heart.He knew that in Hideyoshi's mind, they were the subjects who came to confer the title of "King of Ming Dynasty", and it was their duty to kowtow.In order not to let things go wrong, he can only do this.Shen Weijing not only kowtowed himself, but also turned to stare at Yang Fangheng, telling him to kneel down too.Yang Fangheng had no choice but to salute, but refused to kowtow. This move made Hideyoshi very unhappy, and he muttered in his mouth that he was about to lose his temper on the spot because the North Koreans did not send the prince as a hostage.Seeing that the situation is not good, President Xiaonishi hurriedly told Hideyoshi that these are all people from Daming who came to give gifts, and for the sake of those gifts, they must be treated well. After persuasion, Hideyoshi finally calmed down a little bit, but he lost the interest to continue the interview. He waved his sleeves and asked his followers to put away the gold seal, edict, edict and crown clothes, and then left the table. President Xiaoxi told the envoy to come here first today and continue tomorrow. The interview on the first day ended inexplicably.On the second day, according to the schedule, it should be Hideyoshi who entertained the envoys of the Ming Dynasty.This time was even more interesting. All the daimyos specially changed into Chinese and Korean costumes, and gathered together in a serious manner, as if they were having a court meeting in the Golden Luan Hall. Eating and drinking in the front, but nervous in the back.Hideyoshi met Shen Weijing and President Xiaonishi in the other hall. The two talked to each other for a long time before persuading Hideyoshi, saying that as long as the canonization ceremony is over, the Koreans will come obediently to confess their sincerity.After leaving the other hall, Shen Weijing asked President Xiaoxi: "It's still the last step, are you reliable?" President Xiaoxi replied: "I have arranged everything." After the banquet, it was time to read the canonized imperial edict.In order to show his importance, Hideyoshi moved the ceremony site to Hanabata Villa, and Tokugawa Ieyasu and others also followed to witness this exciting moment. According to the procedure, Yang Fangheng first read out the imperial edict, and then the monk Xixiao accepted the translation into Japanese, and conveyed it to Hideyoshi and other daimyos in public.This Xixiao acceptance is a key person arranged by President Xiaoxi.President Konishi had already greeted him in advance, saying that if you see a sentence that makes Hideyoshi angry, please skip it and not translate it. In other words, President Xiaonishi bullied no one present who knew Chinese and Japanese, and planned to play a trick to deceive the world.Yang Fangheng read the canonization of the king of Japan, and Hideyoshi heard it was the canonization of the Daming King, so this matter was fooled. But Xixiao accepted and accepted. I don't know if he was nervous, or he didn't plan to cooperate with President Xiaoxi at all, and faithfully translated Emperor Wanli's imperial edict word by word under the eyes of everyone. So far in the Osaka Museum, the original copy of this edict is still preserved, and the full text is as follows: "Following the heavens, the emperor made the saying: Shengren Guangyun, everything will be overturned, and everyone will respect the emperor's orders. General Pu and Haiyu Sunrise In the past, our ancestors were born and bred in many ways. The tortoise and dragon badge were given to the Fusang area from afar; In this grand occasion, it is advisable to read Yizhang, to consult with Toyotomi Hirai Hideyoshi, to rise to the sea, and to know and respect China. The envoy of the west, I admire and come to the same. The north knocks the pass of thousands of miles, and is willing to be attached. The love is firm in obedience , Enkejin Yu Rouhuai. Zi Te made you the king of Japan and gave you an imperial order. In the letter of Xilong Benzhi, you will wear the crown and clothes on the sea table, and you will be in fashion and clothes, and you will be guarded by the heaven. Cultivate. Follow the essentials and be grateful for the emperor's grace. There is no substitute for sincerity, only obey the words, and always respect the teachings. Thank you!" Hideyoshi doesn't understand Chinese, but Acceptance translated it very well and perfectly expressed the Chinese meaning in Japanese.The other polite words are nothing more than flowery words, but there are two key words among them. One sentence is "make you the king of Japan";Emperor Wanli had arranged for Hideyoshi even the title and position—this was an extremely great insult to Hideyoshi who arrogantly wanted to occupy the entire East Asia.What's more, it's embarrassing to be in front of so many famous people. Hideyoshi was so angry that he used the edict on the ground—in some historical materials, it is also mentioned that he tore up the edict and smashed the bright crown on his head—yelling at Yang Fangheng: "Stop talking nonsense, I was originally a member of Japan, so I need Ming to confer this title? I want the King of Ming! King of Ming!" The king of Ming Dynasty begged for peace, saying that he would enshrine me as the emperor of Ming Dynasty, so he agreed to the peace talks. Now he deceives me by making me the king of Japan.) The old man trembled with anger, realizing that he might have been duped, and a big one at that.He remembered that this was a matter of Xiaoxi's best efforts, so he looked for Xiaoxi everywhere with red eyes. President Xiaoxi was trembling with fright at the side. Acceptance's lack of performance on the spot made his overall plan fail, and now he had to bear Hideyoshi's monstrous anger.When Hideyoshi saw President Xiaonishi, he became very angry, shouting that he must cut off your dog's head! President Xiaonishi kowtowed again and again, saying that Ishida and Otani discussed these things with me, and I didn't do it arbitrarily.He was afraid that Hideyoshi would not believe him, so he took out a lot of correspondence—it seems that Xiaoxi is really delicate, and he was ready for the incident to be revealed, otherwise why did he carry so many letters with him when he attended the banquet? Xi Xiaocheng felt guilty, thinking that I had harmed Xiao Xijun.He stepped forward and advised Hideyoshi not to kill indiscriminately.Ishida, Otani and the others were also considered loyal, and they admitted the matter, so they talked about it, and finally saved the life of Chief Xiaonishi.After such a commotion, the banquet would naturally fail, and everyone broke up unhappy. Yang Fangheng saw Hideyoshi first throwing the imperial edict and then scolding Xiaoxi. He didn't understand Japanese, so he was a little confused; Shen Weijing didn't dare to explain too much, so he hurriedly dragged Yang Fangheng out of Osaka City and returned to the post.After returning, Yang Fangheng asked Shen Weijing what happened.As expected of an old liar, Shen Weijing said without changing his face that Hideyoshi was angry because the Koreans did not send high-standard envoys.Yang Fangheng was skeptical and didn't investigate further. Early the next morning, Shen Weijing sent a message to the correspondent Huang Shen, telling a big lie, saying that Guan Bai told me yesterday, and blamed you Koreans for procrastinating and refusing to cooperate with the peace negotiation, so they will send troops to attack you again.Then he pretended to be a good guy, saying that it was fortunate that I stopped Hideyoshi and gave him a lecture. Since Japan was enfeoffed as a vassal state, it is a brother country with North Korea.How can the state of brothers fight? At the end, Shen Weijing patted his chest and said, don't worry, I won't leave unless I settle Hideyoshi's matter this time. Such a good Shen Weijing, when he uttered this nonsense, he really couldn't get angry, and his face didn't change.It can be seen that he is going to blame the North Koreans for the failure of the canonization, so as to alleviate his guilt after returning to the country.After hearing this, Huang Shen always felt that something was wrong, but he didn't dare to say it out loud. He was worried about the future fate of North Korea. His worries were not without reason.On September 9th, Yanagawa Tiaoxin came to secretly tell Huang Shen that Hideyoshi summoned Kato Kiyomasa yesterday, and Kato Kiyomasa patted his chest and said, "It doesn't matter if the Koreans don't send the prince, I'll go and catch two more myself." Hideyoshi was very happy, Let him cross the sea to attack North Korea in February. When Huang Shen heard the report, he was frightened out of his wits, and hurriedly told the two envoys of Ming Dynasty, but Shen Weijing mocked him, saying that he was worrying unfoundedly. A few days later, the mission heard another piece of news: Kuroda Nagamasa was in Buzen, Kato Kiyoshi was in Higo, and the two generals were preparing their troops for the expedition.At this time, Shen Weijing still tried to calm down, and comforted Yang Fangheng that he was fine. As soon as I said it was okay, something happened... Hideyoshi sent someone to send a letter to the mission.In the letter, Hideyoshi scolded the North Koreans severely, listed three crimes, and claimed that they must be taught a lesson. There is no doubt that this is a declaration of war.When the Ming and North Korean missions heard the news, they knew that the mission was a complete failure.The only thing they can do now is to leave as soon as the Japanese are still reasonable. President Xiaoxi was quite loyal, and sent Liu Chuan Tiaoxin to follow him all the way, taking good care of him.At the end of November and the beginning of December, the Ming and North Korean missions finally returned safely to Busan Port.President Xiaoxi ordered Zongyi Zhihao to entertain him, and also prepared a lot of gifts, hoping that the business would not be a good one, so he didn't make any trouble, so he sent him back to Seoul.At this time, it was already the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Wanli, and two full years had passed since January 30th, the twenty-third year of Wanli, the day when the canonization regiment was established...