"We need to contact the ministers in the court more, without having to be together. After all, we are all disciples of saints, and have been classmates and even teachers and students, and there is no need to break up with each other. Only in this way can we learn about the affairs of the court through them, know ourselves and our enemies and win every battle! In addition, if there is a real change in the future, we can cooperate with the inside and outside, so it is better for Hong to try to contact some ministers who are in the court like Hong."

At this time, Hong Chengchou was talking to reactionary gentry such as Ding Qirui and others about the reasons why he wanted to write letters to Yuan Keli and other ministers in the court.

After hearing this, the reactionary gentry such as Ding Qirui felt it was reasonable, so they decided to follow suit.

After Yang Sichang was arrested, the entire reactionary gentry group fell into a state of no leader, and for a moment he didn't know how to fight against the court.

Fortunately, at this time, a group of swaying Hong Chengchou suddenly stood up and became the backbone of these reactionary gentry, just like in history he was captured by the Qing Dynasty and was about to seek death at the beginning, but when Huang Taiji died, he suddenly devoted himself to the Qing Dynasty in the Shunzhi Dynasty.

Hong Chengchou's thoughts are elusive for ordinary people.

Now, he took the lead in writing a letter to Yuan Keli, and at the same time decided to go to Edo to meet Tokugawa Hidetachi.

Because Hong Chengchou knew that if he wanted to save himself and change his current situation, he could only make his entire reactionary gentry group grow bigger and stronger, and be recruited by the court in the future or establish a country independently, without worrying about being wiped out by the emperor's army.

Hong Chengchou naturally knew that the former was the most likely.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou is actually trying to be recruited in his heart, such as Song Jiang in "Water Margin".

But Tokugawa Hidetachi met Hong Chengchou and other reactionary gentry.

Although Tokugawa Hidetachi compromised and signed an unequal treaty in the previous negotiations with the Ming Dynasty, he still felt dissatisfied in his heart.

After all, the current Tokugawa shogunate has seriously declined in the minds of daimyos due to the bullying of the Ming Dynasty.

Based on the principle that the enemy's enemy is a friend, he met reactionary gentry such as Hong Chengchou.

In addition, Tokugawa Hidetachi also hopes to learn through reactionary gentry such as Hong Chengchou and others how these opponents of the Ming emperor evaluated His Majesty the Emperor.

Now, Hidetachi Tokugawa is now strongly trying to learn more about the Ming Dynasty due to a series of events.

"You don't know that although the Ming Dynasty seems invincible, it is actually turbulent and uneasy inside him, and it can even be said that the country will fall to its death!"

"The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty implemented a brutal rule in the country. For opponents, he had always directly confiscated his family and destroyed his clans. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, many people hated him. Now his invasion of your country is just to divert the attention of the scholars and people in the country to cover up the fact that his empire was already weak!"

Hong Chengchou was so fooling Tokugawa Hidetachi at this time.

After hearing this, Hidetachi Tokugawa was particularly excited. He now likes to hear bad news about the Ming Empire.

Hong Chengchou happened to capture his mentality and began to fabricate for him about how Emperor Zhu Youxiao made the Ming Dynasty chaotic and the people were in trouble.

After hearing this, Tokugawa Hidetachi nodded: "Then please advise me, when will the Ming court collapse and when will it become completely weak?"

Tokugawa Hidetachi is now particularly looking forward to turmoil within the Ming Dynasty, and then he will take the opportunity to attack the Ming Dynasty when there is a crisis within the Ming Dynasty, recover Nagasaki Island, and stop trading to avenge his previous shame.

"As late as one year, as short as three years, the Ming Dynasty will fall apart due to the conquests everywhere! If the disaster of Emperor Yang of Sui, you must also know the demise of the Sui Dynasty in China."

Hong Chengchou said.

Tokugawa Hidetachi nodded his head and said, "But the Ming Dynasty's ships are strong and powerful, and its strength is extraordinary. I believe that even if I decline, I will not collapse suddenly. Even if I have the will of spy, I am afraid that I will have a chance to avenge my shame."

"No! Since ancient times, anyone who can enter China has been the master of China, and no barbarians are divided into barbarians! The same is true for the saints! As long as you are willing, we, those with knowledge in the Middle Land, will respond positively! You must also know the fact that sleeping on firewood and tasting gall. Goujian was even weaker than your country at that time, and Wu was far stronger than the Ming Dynasty today. However, in just three years, Yue replaced Wu! It can be seen that this world is unpredictable. Until the end, no one knows what the outcome will be."

"Although we have no plans for Zhang Liang and Xiao He, we are willing to help your country enter China and be the master of China! Therefore, this time we specially offer 300 Western firearms, fifty cannons, and one hundred craftsmen. They are all skilled craftsmen among our slaves. There are gun barrels, gunpowder, and large ships, and 100,000 kilograms of iron. They were taken by Mr. Yang from the officials and merchants of the Ming Dynasty on the same day. I hope you can accept it with a smile."

As Hong Chengchou said that, he bowed to Tokugawa Hidetachi. He knew that he had to use the inner unwillingness of the Japanese people like Tokugawa Hidetachi to arouse the ambitions of these people to attract the attention of the court, so that these reactionary gentry could have the opportunity to accumulate strength overseas and wait for the opportunity.

Japan is not short of gold and silver, and a large amount of silver flows out every year, but the only thing that lacks iron is serious, even more lacking in craftsmen with superb skills.

During the period of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, after destroying North Korea, Japan kidnapped a large number of porcelain-making craftsmen from North Korea and returned to China, making Japan's porcelain-making industry very developed and able to compete with China.

Now Hong Chengchou presented the iron craftsmen, shipbuilders, gunpowder craftsmen, and iron materials to Tokugawa Hidetaka, which would undoubtedly allow Japan's iron smelting, shipbuilding, gunpowder and other industries to make rapid progress, and naturally it was in Tokugawa Hidetaka's thoughts.

Tokugawa Hidetachi was very satisfied and decided to grant Hong Seungchou and other Edo Mikami Miki, and appointed Hong Seungchou as the Edo Castle Honmaru Laozaka, and began his ambition for the Ming Dynasty.

For this reason, reactionary gentry such as Hong Seungchou temporarily stayed in Edo Castle without having to wander around anymore, and secretly recruited ronin in Edo Castle.

...

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had already sent officials to the Japanese.

Chen Xinjia was appointed as the official foreign affairs officer in Japan, and came to Edo, Japan, along with Jinyiwei Qianhu Liangheng, who was considered deputy envoy.

Tokugawa Hidetaka has now regarded Hong Chengchou as his guest of honor and obeyed Hong Chengchou's words. As for the visit of Chen Xinjia and other Ming court officials, he also followed Hong Chengchou's advice and decided to let his son Tokugawa Iemitsu Goujian learn to lie on firewood and taste gall, and took the initiative to go to the dock outside Edo Castle to welcome Chen Xinjia and other Ming court officials.

Chen Xinjia, an official in history who was beheaded by Chongzhen for discussing peace with Jiannu in the late Chongzhen period, did not expect that he would come to Japan for a permanent residence one day.

But Chen Xinjia is not an incompetent person. He was able to be the Minister of War in history and leave his name behind. He was also considered a cadre official.

Before coming to Japan this time, he had already done a lot of preparations, and after being summoned by Zhu Youxiao, he understood the basic role of his visit to Japan.

Therefore, when Chen Xinjia saw Tokugawa Iehiko, he was still very polite on the surface and smiled and bowed: "Why should the shogun be so polite? Chen will have a good point here, and there will be a chance to meet in the future."

Tokugawa Iemitsu replied: "I came in the name of my father. My father said that the envoy of the country should not be neglected."

"Ling Zun has really changed his attitude now, and he is becoming more and more respectful to me, the Ming people, and even the Ming Dynasty's imperial offensive party is regarded as a guest of honor! The same is true for me now!"

But in fact, Chen Xinjia is very good at hiding needles in cotton.

And Tokugawa Iemitsu soon lost his smile on his face.

Next, Chen Xinjia continued: "Please tell Ling Zun that your country should detain the criminals in the rebels in his mansion as soon as possible, and hand them over to our country for disposal, and return the iron materials belonging to our country. In addition, our craftsmen in your mansion, we need to bring back all our country's craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty. In the future, the residents of the two countries must have relevant proof! Otherwise, they should be regarded as illegal immigrants! Now that I am here to come to the Japanese, this is the first thing I have to do!"

...

"That's what he said?"

Tokugawa Hidetaki asked.

Tokugawa Ieki's first note: "Yes!"

After hearing this, Tokugawa Hidetachi directly threw the ceramic doll in his hand to the ground and asked, "Who leaked the secrets? How did Akito know these things!"
Chapter completed!