In May of the 27th year of the Jiajing reign, just one month after Zhu Wan defeated Shuangyu Island, Japanese tribute envoy Zhou Liang arrived in Ningbo by boat with more than 600 people.
This incident caused a huge uproar for a while.
You should know that since the tribute dispute in the second year of Jiajing, although the imperial court did not ban the official Kanko trade with Japan, it made very strict regulations.
Japan was required to pay tribute every ten years, provide three ships, one hundred personnel, and was prohibited from carrying or using weapons.
Although there may be deviations in the number of people and ships in the actual implementation, the tribute period of ten years has never been changed.
Now that Zhou Liang did not pay tribute on the prescribed time, it posed a difficult problem for Zhu Wan.
Unlike the Japanese pirates, Zhou Liang represented the Ouchi clan, the Japanese official.
Since the matter involved foreign countries, Zhu Wan naturally could not make a decision on his own. On the one hand, he let the tribute envoy team live in Dinghai County, Ningbo, and on the other hand, he wrote to the emperor to ask for a solution.
After receiving Zhu Wan's memorial, Emperor Jiajing consulted with the cabinet and issued instructions; he handled the matter flexibly.
This is equivalent to giving Zhu Wan authorization and ordering him to handle the matter with full authority.
Logically speaking, once the emperor's decree reached Ningbo, the Japanese envoys could begin trade.
But at this moment, a traitor tried to sow discord and told Zhou Liang that Zhu Wan intended to write to the court to completely cancel the trade with Japan.
The reason why they were settled in Ningbo was to buy time. Once the emperor's order arrived, they would all be repatriated.
Zhou Liang was naturally furious. The current frequency of tribute payments was far from enough to satisfy the Ouchi clan's needs. This Zhu Wan was so vicious that he actually wanted to completely abolish the Kanhe trade.
This is really unbearable.
Since you can no longer tolerate it, there is no need to tolerate it anymore.
Zhou Liang decided to go all out and assassinate Zhu Wan.
Although tribute envoys were not allowed to carry weapons, that was just an official statement.
In fact, it is very dangerous to travel across the ocean. If you don’t bring weapons, you won’t even be able to resist if you encounter pirates on the road.
Besides, the number of people on Zhou Liang's trip exceeded the limit, so he naturally didn't care about violating the Ming court's requirements on the issue of weapons.
His subordinates were all the bravest warriors of the Ouchi clan. Zhou Liang picked out more than ten people and ordered them to sneak into the Inspectorate General's Office under the cover of night to kill Zhu Wan.
Coincidentally, Zhu Wan had originally returned to Hangzhou shortly after capturing Shuangyu Island. However, due to the arrival of Japanese envoys, he returned to Ningbo and resided in the Dinghai County Procuratorate.
Dinghai County was very small, and Zhou Liang found out where Zhu Wan lived after just a quick inquiry.
On the night of May 9th, the warriors sent by Zhou Liang sneaked into the Censorate and were about to commit murder when they were discovered by Zhu Wan's personal soldiers.
The Inspector General's Office's defense work was still very effective. In a short time, countless personal soldiers rushed to fight with the Japanese samurai who came to assassinate Zhu Wan.
After a fierce fight, both sides were injured and all the Japanese samurai were killed.
Zhu Wan was very dissatisfied with this. He wanted to keep the prisoners alive, but there was nothing he could do now.
From their attire, it can be seen that these assassins are Japanese. At present, the only one in Dinghai County that can gather so many powerful Japanese at one time is the tribute delegation brought by Zhou Liang.
It's a pity that he didn't catch anyone alive, otherwise he would definitely be able to get something useful through interrogation.
But the next morning, the news that an assassin had infiltrated the Inspectorate General's Office spread.
There is really no way to deal with this. There is no impenetrable wall in the world, and it is impossible to suppress any movement in Dinghai County.
Xu Yan naturally also learned the news.
He was very worried about this.
In the original history, it was because Zhu Wan offended the Fujian-Zhejiang Group in handling this tribute envoy incident that the seeds of disaster were sown.
Now that things are developing in that direction, how can Xu Yan not be anxious?
After some thought, Xu Yan decided to go to the Censorate to give Zhu Wan a reminder.
However, after the assassination attempt last night, a lot of guards were added around the Inspector General's Office.
Although Xu Yan and Zhu Wan were familiar with each other, he also underwent a series of routine interrogations before he successfully entered the Censorate.
Zhu Wan was handling official business in the study as usual, and it seemed that his mood was not greatly affected by the "assassination incident".
After learning that Xu Yan had arrived, he put down the documents in his hand and gestured to Xu Yan to sit down and talk.
"Sir, I heard that some Japanese broke into the Censorate last night and attempted assassination?"
Xu Yan and Zhu Wan were old acquaintances, so there was no need for a lot of idle pleasantries. Instead, he went straight to the point and asked.
Zhu Wan didn't hide it and nodded slightly, saying, "It's true. Judging from their attire, they must be members of the tribute mission. It's a pity that no one was left alive."
Xu Yan pressed on, "How does the Minister plan to handle this matter?"
"Of course, we will get to the bottom of it."
Zhu Wan said without hesitation.
Xu Yan sighed in his heart. Zhu Wan was indeed too rigid.
"There is something I don't know if I should say."
"It's okay to just talk about it now."
"Don't you think this is very strange, sir?"
Xu Yan paused and said, "The Japanese came to pay tribute, naturally hoping that the trade agreement could proceed smoothly. Minister of the Ministry is in charge of the military and political affairs of Fujian and Zhejiang. They are busy flattering you, so why would they do something as foolish as assassinating you?"
Zhu Wan felt that what Xu Yan said made sense and motioned for him to continue.
Encouraged, Xu Yan took a deep breath and said, "In my humble opinion, I'm afraid someone is trying to sow discord."
"Who do you think was responsible?"
"Of course, it's someone who dislikes the Minister."
Xu Yan continued, "The Minister just destroyed Shuangyu Island not long ago. Besides the Portuguese and Japanese pirates on the island, there must be quite a few local pirates, right? These people are actually smuggling forces of the Fujian and Zhejiang merchants. The Minister has a grudge against them."
Zhu Wan's face was solemn. After a long silence, he said, "Of course I know this, but will they instigate the Japanese envoy to assassinate me because of this? After all, this involves foreign nations. Don't they have even a shred of righteousness in their hearts?"
Xu Yan sneered in his heart. Justice? These Fujian and Zhejiang merchants only have their own interests in mind. The word justice has nothing to do with them.
Since taking office, Zhu Wan has pursued a very strict maritime ban policy, which naturally affected the interests of these maritime merchants.
It is said that depriving someone of their money is like killing their parents.
This contradiction was completely intensified after Zhu Wan destroyed Shuangyu.
All the sea merchants from Fujian and Zhejiang wanted to kill Zhu Wan as soon as possible.
Of course they didn't want to do it themselves, but at this time a Japanese tribute envoy happened to arrive. Wouldn't it be just what they wanted to do by using a borrowed knife to kill someone?
"My Lord, it is easy to get rid of foreign thieves, but it is difficult to get rid of Chinese thieves. It is easy to get rid of Chinese thieves, but it is difficult to get rid of Chinese thieves in good clothes."
Xu Yan said passionately, "These Fujian and Zhejiang merchants only care about their own interests and their own families. As for the interests of the Ming Dynasty, they naturally don't consider them. Anyone who stands in their way will be eliminated as soon as possible!"
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