Chapter 2731

Compared with several cities that the mission has visited during its visit to Japan, the inner outline of Edo Castle is indeed more than one level higher in terms of building scale and decoration level. The palaces seen are all white walls and green tiles.

It has brackets and double eaves, and there are high-rising owl tails at both ends of the ridge, which is very close to the shape of traditional Chinese architecture.

Among the young officials in the mission, Shi Chengwu has been in Jiangsu and Zhejiang all year round and has been to Nanjing many times. He naturally recognizes that this architectural style is a legacy of the Tang and Song Dynasties. However, the few people from Hainan Island usually see square-shaped sea buildings.

Chinese-style architecture, it is rare to see a Chinese-style palace, and what I saw in front of me was quite novel.

The only person who feels familiar with this scene is Zhu Zian, who has a special status. He was born in a royal palace and is very familiar with palace architecture. The palaces he saw in Seoul earlier, he only thought they were inferior imitations, even in appearance.

None of them reached the passing level. Although the palace buildings seen at this time are far less gorgeous than the Ming Palace, their shape is much better than the Joseon Palace.

However, no one was paying attention to the scenery they saw in front of them. They were all thinking about the next talks with the Japanese side.

Everyone was taken to one of the halls to wait for the arrival of the shogun. However, there were no seats here. There were only a few silk cushions and two low tables on the smooth straw mat floor. Everyone could only sit on the floor. Fortunately, they used

The group had already visited several places such as Kinshi Castle, Nagasaki Castle, and Osaka Castle. Everyone was used to the fussy Japanese home style, so they didn't feel there was anything wrong with it.

Not long after, someone's footsteps were heard walking in the corridor outside the house, and then the grilled paper door was opened from the outside, and a group of people came in surrounded by a young man wearing a purple robe and a tasseled crown. Everyone in the delegation knew that this was the arrival of the real owner.

, also stood up and bowed to greet him.

The young man whispered a few words, and someone next to him translated it in Hainan dialect, and invited everyone to sit down and talk.

Although they had heard Ma Boran talk about the situation of the current shogun before coming, everyone was still somewhat surprised after seeing the real person.

This young man who inherited the position of shogun four years ago when he was just ten years old is currently the most powerful figure in Japan, the fourth generation general of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ietsuna. But he looks short and thin.

His face was pale and he obviously had not reached the level of physical development that a healthy teenager should have.

He is the second son of the previous shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, but his elder brother died at birth, so he became the first heir. Perhaps due to a genetic defect in the family, Tokugawa Iemitsu forty-seven

He passed away at the age of 18, and his eldest son died in infancy. Tokugawa Ietsuna was also born with a weak body and often fell ill. His physical condition was far from healthy.

It is precisely for these reasons that the government affairs of the shogunate are more shared by senior officials, while Tokugawa Ietsuna's status has become somewhat similar to that of the emperor. Most of the time, he does not deal with practical matters and is just a symbol of power. Due to worries

The image would affect the authority of the shogunate, and Tokugawa Ietsuna would rarely leave his residence and appear in public.

Of course, despite this, the profound background of the Tokugawa family is still enough to ensure that Tokugawa Ietsuna can continue to hold power. Even if his powerful ministers can influence the government, they still dare not easily challenge the status of the shogun.

Although Tokugawa Ietsuna was in poor health, he had been a general for several years after all, and he behaved relatively calmly. After sitting down, he first expressed his gratitude to the Haihan Executive Committee for their greetings and gifts, and then asked his servants to send them as well.

A gift note as an official return gift.

After the simple greetings, both parties got down to business. The Haihan delegation actually prepared a lot of topics for this trip, not only trade-related matters, but also international relations matters. However, how many negotiations can be concluded in the end depends on the envoys.

The team showed off on the spot.

Although Japan was forced to sign a trade treaty with Haihan under the coercion of force, in the past few years, the shogunate has obtained real money and silver from bilateral trade, and the benefits are real. This is why the shogunate is willing to continue to cooperate with Haihan on trade issues.

An important reason for China to carry out dialogue and consultation.

The issues raised by the mission were very practical, such as building a dedicated port area for Haihan in Nagasaki to provide more convenient transportation conditions for merchants to attract more Haihan merchants to settle in Nagasaki Port; allowing Haihan to operate in more ports

Haihan Bank offices have been set up in the region so that merchants engaged in trading activities can use Haihan banknotes to calculate and settle prices; the tax rate for Haihan products entering the Japanese market has been lowered to promote the growth of trade scale, etc.

When it comes to specific matters, the young shogun obviously does not understand many aspects, so after listening to each issue, he has to conduct long inquiries and discussions with the officials around him before making a response.

Although the mission stated in detail the benefits that these measures would bring to Japan, it was still not strong enough to persuade Tokugawa Ietsuna to accept these issues. The shogunate still had many subsequent impacts on these measures.

Concerns and worries that it will reduce their control over these trading activities, thereby creating uncontrollable risks.

After some consultations, the shogunate did not reject the mission's various issues, but it could not reach an agreement on any of them. Tokugawa Ietsuna said that it would take some time to confirm the feasibility of these issues, and this cycle may

It will take several days, and some of the details are still open to discussion.

In fact, such a reply did not go beyond the expectations of the mission. Ma Boran had already vaccinated them. The shogunate was not entirely harmonious. The young general was relatively weak and his prestige was still difficult to convince the public. Therefore, the negotiation process was unlikely to be smooth sailing.

If Han raises these issues, half of them will be recognized by the other party in the end, which is a relatively ideal result.

As for international relations, the matters mentioned by the mission aroused shock in the shogunate.

The mission proposed that after the Ming Dynasty surrendered to Haihan last year, the various vassal states of the Ming Dynasty were also taken over by Haihan. However, most of the Ryukyu Kingdom is still under the control of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain in Japan. Haihan

It is hoped that the shogunate will put the overall situation first and persuade the Shimazu clan to give up control of Ryukyu and voluntarily withdraw from the region. If the Satsuma clan can comply, then all local industry and trade rights can still be retained.

The Ryukyu Kingdom has become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty since the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. Not only did the king accept the canonization of the Ming court, but even the reign name was directly copied from the Ming Dynasty. However, in the 37th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the Satsuma clan sent troops to invade Ryukyu, and even the king

They were also captured together. Later, Ryukyu was forced to sign the "Fifteen Articles", recognizing Satsuma Domain's control over Ryukyu, and also assigned the five Amami Islands under its jurisdiction to Satsuma Domain's direct jurisdiction. From then on, it became one country and two territories.

During this period, Ryukyu was still nominally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it was under the control of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Satsuma Domain.
Chapter completed!