Chapter 2732
Chapter 2732
Chapter 2732
However, while the Satsuma domain controlled the Ryukyu Kingdom, it did not force Ryukyu to break off relations with Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in theory, Ryukyu has always been a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, but the number of tribute to Ming Dynasty has been less in the past three to forty years.
The border of the Ryukyu Kingdom is nothing but a string of small islands between Taiwan Island and Kyushu Island in Japan. It has neither minerals nor land. It is still more than 1000 miles away from the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so it cannot be said to have much strategic value.Perhaps it is considered a piece of fat for the Satsuma clan located in the southern part of Kyushu Island, Japan, but neither Daming nor Haihan have paid much attention to the existence of this tiny country.It wasn't until last year when Ming asked to surrender that the Ryukyu Kingdom sent envoys to Sanya to ask for an audience, hoping to get Haihan's canonization and asylum.
It is reasonable to say that it is a little late to change the court at this time, but the Ryukyu officials have always been submissive to Haihan, and have maintained trade relations with Taipei Jilong Port and coastal areas in Zhejiang over the years, so the executive committee is still very happy to accept Ryukyu's vote. .
But at this time, a new problem appeared, that is, the royal family of Ryukyu was just a puppet, and the real power was actually in the hands of the Japanese Satsuma clan. One of the reasons why Ryukyu came to the door was to hope that Haihan could help Restore the country by himself and drive out the power of Satsuma.
From the perspective of the Executive Committee, Ryukyu does not have the value for Haihan to use military means, but the attitude of the ruling traversers towards Japan has always been very clear, and they will never allow it to have the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence.If we assist Ryukyu to restore the country, in addition to having a certain positive effect on Haihan's international reputation, it can also further weaken Japan's strength. This is a goal that the Executive Committee is willing to achieve.
Of course, since it is necessary to stand in front of the stage and uphold justice, then the correct procedure is to do things first, and the executive committee does not want to use force for this matter.One of the missions of the mission this time is to show the Tokugawa shogunate Haihan's attitude towards the ownership of Ryukyu, and try to resolve the issue at the negotiating table.
The mission had previously discussed this, and believed that the shogunate would not compromise so easily. After all, to the shogunate, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. What's more, the meat has been in the mouth for decades, so how can it be easily spit out again.If no agreement can be reached in the end, it may be necessary to go to the step of threat of force.
But after Tokugawa Iezuna had a low-pitched conversation with his officials, the answer he gave was beyond the expectations of the mission.
Tokugawa Jiagang said that it is inconvenient for the shogunate to intervene in this matter, and Haihan can negotiate with Satsuma on his own.If the Satsuma clan is willing to let go and allow the Ryukyu Kingdom to restore autonomy, then the shogunate will not interfere again.
This is tantamount to kicking the ball back to Haihan, but it caught everyone off guard. It seems that they did not do enough research on the relationship between the shogunate and the Satsuma clan beforehand.
These two families are nominally subordinate, but judging from Tokugawa Ietsuna's attitude, it may not be very harmonious.So much so that the shogunate didn't even intend to do superficial articles about maintaining the Satsuma clan, but it seemed a bit like watching the fire from the other side.
For the present plan, we can only put down this topic first, and make plans after going back to reorganize the information.The shogunate also needs some time to discuss other trade-related issues, and the two sides agreed to hold talks again in three days.
After the first meeting, Tokugawa Iezuna held a banquet in honor of the diplomatic mission in accordance with diplomatic etiquette.But before the banquet started, the young general said he was unwell, leaving Tadaki Sakai and others to greet the mission, and he withdrew first.
The real master is not present, on the contrary, he has less scruples about speaking.During the banquet, the diplomatic mission got some valuable information.After returning to the embassy, Ma Boran looked through the relevant materials overnight, and added some information that had been ignored before, and finally sorted out the ins and outs of it roughly.
Just like the attitude shown during the negotiations, the relationship between the shogunate and the Satsuma domain really has some problems.In this era, the daimyo vassals who were close to the shogunate were often located in the vicinity of Edo, and the farther away from Edo, the more alienated the relationship with the shogunate.
The Satsuma Domain and the Hirado Domain are one south and one north, located on the westernmost coast of the Japanese archipelago, separated by Sasebo and Nagasaki.Back then, the Hirado clan relied on their wealth and soldiers, disobeyed the rule of the shogunate, and was independent from the shogunate system, so that when they were attacked by Haihan later, the shogunate never intervened in the rescue.The situation of the Satsuma domain is actually similar to that of the Hirado domain, and the relationship with the shogunate is naturally conceivable.
The relationship between the Satsuma clan and the shogunate is not good, and it has a lot to do with the current lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa.This person was sent to Edo as a hostage when he was young, and he was imprisoned here for many years, so he naturally harbored resentment towards the shogunate.
Later, after he returned to his hometown and succeeded to the throne, he organized gold mining in the territory of Satsuma, but because of the interference of the shogunate, he had to stop this way of making money.Before and after his accession to the throne, the shogunate successively issued multiple decrees prohibiting the feudal domains from engaging in foreign trade activities on their own, and forcibly concentrating foreign businessmen in the port of Nagasaki under the control of the shogunate, which made the Satsuma domain's geographical advantage completely lost. opportunity to play.
As the saying goes, cutting people's fortunes is like killing their parents. Mitsuhisa Shimadzu was targeted by the shogunate time and time again, and his resentment naturally grew.However, there are policies and countermeasures, and he also has other ways to make money to bypass Kaifu, and that is the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Although the Ryukyu Kingdom itself has no resources, the Satsuma Domain can use the name of the Ryukyu Kingdom to conduct trade activities with Ming and other countries.The shogunate's shogunate can control the Satsuma clan, but not other countries. Even if they know that the Satsuma clan is using Ryukyu to make small moves, there is no good way to deal with it.It is also because of this that the Satsuma clan has controlled Ryukyu for decades, but has never annexed the area, just to keep the name of the Ryukyu country as a shield.
The Satsuma clan has been doing smuggling business for decades through the shell of Ryukyu. This channel is an extremely important source of income for the Satsuma clan.Whether or not Ryukyu is restored to the country has no direct impact on the shogunate, but if Haihan lets Ryukyu get rid of the control of the Satsuma clan, it is actually equivalent to weakening the strength of the Satsuma clan, which is a result that the shogunate is happy to see .It was precisely because of this that the shogunate did not refuse the request made by the Haihan mission, but they did not want to go to this muddy water, so they let the mission go to Satsuma to negotiate on their own.
As for the conditions previously proposed by the mission, if the Satsuma domain cooperates, it can retain its trade rights and industries in Ryukyu, which becomes superfluous.From the point of view of the shogunate, I am afraid that he would like to use the hands of Haihan to destroy the Satsuma clan, just like destroying the disobedient thorn in the Hirado clan.
(End of this chapter)
However, while the Satsuma domain controlled the Ryukyu Kingdom, it did not force Ryukyu to break off relations with Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in theory, Ryukyu has always been a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, but the number of tribute to Ming Dynasty has been less in the past three to forty years.
The border of the Ryukyu Kingdom is nothing but a string of small islands between Taiwan Island and Kyushu Island in Japan. It has neither minerals nor land. It is still more than 1000 miles away from the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so it cannot be said to have much strategic value.Perhaps it is considered a piece of fat for the Satsuma clan located in the southern part of Kyushu Island, Japan, but neither Daming nor Haihan have paid much attention to the existence of this tiny country.It wasn't until last year when Ming asked to surrender that the Ryukyu Kingdom sent envoys to Sanya to ask for an audience, hoping to get Haihan's canonization and asylum.
It is reasonable to say that it is a little late to change the court at this time, but the Ryukyu officials have always been submissive to Haihan, and have maintained trade relations with Taipei Jilong Port and coastal areas in Zhejiang over the years, so the executive committee is still very happy to accept Ryukyu's vote. .
But at this time, a new problem appeared, that is, the royal family of Ryukyu was just a puppet, and the real power was actually in the hands of the Japanese Satsuma clan. One of the reasons why Ryukyu came to the door was to hope that Haihan could help Restore the country by himself and drive out the power of Satsuma.
From the perspective of the Executive Committee, Ryukyu does not have the value for Haihan to use military means, but the attitude of the ruling traversers towards Japan has always been very clear, and they will never allow it to have the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence.If we assist Ryukyu to restore the country, in addition to having a certain positive effect on Haihan's international reputation, it can also further weaken Japan's strength. This is a goal that the Executive Committee is willing to achieve.
Of course, since it is necessary to stand in front of the stage and uphold justice, then the correct procedure is to do things first, and the executive committee does not want to use force for this matter.One of the missions of the mission this time is to show the Tokugawa shogunate Haihan's attitude towards the ownership of Ryukyu, and try to resolve the issue at the negotiating table.
The mission had previously discussed this, and believed that the shogunate would not compromise so easily. After all, to the shogunate, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. What's more, the meat has been in the mouth for decades, so how can it be easily spit out again.If no agreement can be reached in the end, it may be necessary to go to the step of threat of force.
But after Tokugawa Iezuna had a low-pitched conversation with his officials, the answer he gave was beyond the expectations of the mission.
Tokugawa Jiagang said that it is inconvenient for the shogunate to intervene in this matter, and Haihan can negotiate with Satsuma on his own.If the Satsuma clan is willing to let go and allow the Ryukyu Kingdom to restore autonomy, then the shogunate will not interfere again.
This is tantamount to kicking the ball back to Haihan, but it caught everyone off guard. It seems that they did not do enough research on the relationship between the shogunate and the Satsuma clan beforehand.
These two families are nominally subordinate, but judging from Tokugawa Ietsuna's attitude, it may not be very harmonious.So much so that the shogunate didn't even intend to do superficial articles about maintaining the Satsuma clan, but it seemed a bit like watching the fire from the other side.
For the present plan, we can only put down this topic first, and make plans after going back to reorganize the information.The shogunate also needs some time to discuss other trade-related issues, and the two sides agreed to hold talks again in three days.
After the first meeting, Tokugawa Iezuna held a banquet in honor of the diplomatic mission in accordance with diplomatic etiquette.But before the banquet started, the young general said he was unwell, leaving Tadaki Sakai and others to greet the mission, and he withdrew first.
The real master is not present, on the contrary, he has less scruples about speaking.During the banquet, the diplomatic mission got some valuable information.After returning to the embassy, Ma Boran looked through the relevant materials overnight, and added some information that had been ignored before, and finally sorted out the ins and outs of it roughly.
Just like the attitude shown during the negotiations, the relationship between the shogunate and the Satsuma domain really has some problems.In this era, the daimyo vassals who were close to the shogunate were often located in the vicinity of Edo, and the farther away from Edo, the more alienated the relationship with the shogunate.
The Satsuma Domain and the Hirado Domain are one south and one north, located on the westernmost coast of the Japanese archipelago, separated by Sasebo and Nagasaki.Back then, the Hirado clan relied on their wealth and soldiers, disobeyed the rule of the shogunate, and was independent from the shogunate system, so that when they were attacked by Haihan later, the shogunate never intervened in the rescue.The situation of the Satsuma domain is actually similar to that of the Hirado domain, and the relationship with the shogunate is naturally conceivable.
The relationship between the Satsuma clan and the shogunate is not good, and it has a lot to do with the current lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa.This person was sent to Edo as a hostage when he was young, and he was imprisoned here for many years, so he naturally harbored resentment towards the shogunate.
Later, after he returned to his hometown and succeeded to the throne, he organized gold mining in the territory of Satsuma, but because of the interference of the shogunate, he had to stop this way of making money.Before and after his accession to the throne, the shogunate successively issued multiple decrees prohibiting the feudal domains from engaging in foreign trade activities on their own, and forcibly concentrating foreign businessmen in the port of Nagasaki under the control of the shogunate, which made the Satsuma domain's geographical advantage completely lost. opportunity to play.
As the saying goes, cutting people's fortunes is like killing their parents. Mitsuhisa Shimadzu was targeted by the shogunate time and time again, and his resentment naturally grew.However, there are policies and countermeasures, and he also has other ways to make money to bypass Kaifu, and that is the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Although the Ryukyu Kingdom itself has no resources, the Satsuma Domain can use the name of the Ryukyu Kingdom to conduct trade activities with Ming and other countries.The shogunate's shogunate can control the Satsuma clan, but not other countries. Even if they know that the Satsuma clan is using Ryukyu to make small moves, there is no good way to deal with it.It is also because of this that the Satsuma clan has controlled Ryukyu for decades, but has never annexed the area, just to keep the name of the Ryukyu country as a shield.
The Satsuma clan has been doing smuggling business for decades through the shell of Ryukyu. This channel is an extremely important source of income for the Satsuma clan.Whether or not Ryukyu is restored to the country has no direct impact on the shogunate, but if Haihan lets Ryukyu get rid of the control of the Satsuma clan, it is actually equivalent to weakening the strength of the Satsuma clan, which is a result that the shogunate is happy to see .It was precisely because of this that the shogunate did not refuse the request made by the Haihan mission, but they did not want to go to this muddy water, so they let the mission go to Satsuma to negotiate on their own.
As for the conditions previously proposed by the mission, if the Satsuma domain cooperates, it can retain its trade rights and industries in Ryukyu, which becomes superfluous.From the point of view of the shogunate, I am afraid that he would like to use the hands of Haihan to destroy the Satsuma clan, just like destroying the disobedient thorn in the Hirado clan.
(End of this chapter)