Japan, Kyoto, rear palace.

"Do you think this little king of Japan really wants to unite with our father? Is he trying to trick us?"

"Why do I always feel so unreal?"

There are three people in the back hall, who are obviously not Japanese, because they are much taller than the people next to them.

The person who spoke was Zhu Di’s third son, Zhu Gaosui.

Next to him was his second brother Zhu Gaoxu and the businessman Xu Huyou under his command.

"Why worry about it? Even if it's fake, what can they do to us?"

"Besides, this little king of Japan obviously wants to seize power. For him, what does it matter if he submits to our Ming Dynasty? It's just that there have been some changes in recent years. In the past few dynasties, Japan begged our Central Plains Dynasty to accept it as a vassal state."

Zhu Gaoxu said indifferently.

Although I have not received much education, I still know some basic historical origins.

Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, Wa Kingdom has always called itself a vassal state of the Central Plains, although the Han and Tang Dynasties basically ignored Wa Kingdom.

After all, in the eyes of the Han and Tang dynasties, Japan was too far away and too remote, and there was nothing worth governing.

In other words, Japan was given a title and the matter was settled.

The origin of Wakoku can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Guangwu conferred the title of King of Wakoku.

From then on, Japan was considered a member of the Central Plains civilization system.

The King of Wa wanted to gain the support of the Ming Dynasty and seize the power of the shogunate. In Zhu Gaoxu's view, isn't this a very normal thing?

Even now, Japan is nominally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaosui said excitedly: "If we can persuade the King of Japan to rebel, it will be a great achievement for both my father and the Ming Dynasty."

Some time ago, the King of Wa sent samurai to secretly contact the Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, hoping to gain support and seize power from Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Zhu Di would certainly be happy to see such a thing. If successful, the entire Japan would be under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. And as an overseas vassal king, Zhu Di's great achievements would also help him gain prominence, and he might even be able to surpass his elder and second brothers.

If you fail, it's not a big loss.

So he sent his two sons over.

Of course, the two sons only came to reap the credit, the real person in charge was Xu Huyou.

These are the maritime merchants that Zhu Di attached the most importance to.

In recent years, maritime trade has brought huge benefits to Zhu Di.

He was not worried about the safety of his two sons, as Japan did not have the courage to do anything to his sons.

If something goes wrong, the entire Japanese nation will be buried with his son.

No matter what, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui were both grandsons of the Ming emperor, and were granted the title of princes personally by His Majesty.

While the two were talking, Xu Huyu was listening nearby.

Although he was highly regarded by the King of Yan, his status was just a maritime merchant, which was far inferior to the two princes, so he had no right to interrupt.

Xu Huyou was in his early forties, quite thin, with a pointed chin, high cheekbones, and a goatee, looking like an old fox.

"Do you have anything to say?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Xu Huyou casually.

Xu Huyou said quickly: "Everything is up to the two young masters."

Zhu Gaoxu just asked casually and didn't want to pay any attention to Xu Huyou. If his father hadn't told him to do so, he would have felt that it was really embarrassing for him to be with such a businessman.

Soon, servants came.

"Please invite the two Ming princes to the front hall to discuss matters."

Zhu Gaoxu and others were led to the front hall by their servants.

Although no one greeted Xu Huyou, he hurried to follow.

After returning to Yancheng, he had to report in detail to the King of Yan.

The front hall was no longer as lively as before.

Including Emperor Go-Komatsu, there were only five people.

However, it is obvious that the other four people had extremely high status and were deeply trusted by Emperor Go-Komatsu, otherwise they would not have stayed to meet Zhu Gaoxu and others.

Among these four people, two are bald monks.

Zhu Gaoxu and his companions were not surprised that there were two monks present.

Japanese monks are very keen on participating in politics, and they have no strict rules or regulations, and can also marry and have children.

Sometimes when they went to the temple, they could see monks playing with their sons, which really opened the eyes of Zhu Gaoxu and others.

Temples are also a very powerful force in Japan.

Most of these temples have their own monk soldiers.

Apart from shaving their heads, Japanese monks are no different from ordinary families, and temples can also be passed down from generation to generation.

"With the help of His Royal Highness Prince Yan this time, I believe I can definitely put things right. As long as His Royal Highness Prince Yan is willing to send troops to help me, I will definitely not let His Royal Highness Prince Yan down."

After some polite exchanges, Emperor Go-Komatsu spoke impatiently.

There was a lot of confidence in his tone, because he had just received promises from more than a dozen daimyō.

Although these daimyo were not as powerful as those under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the number of troops under the control of Emperor Go-Komatsu was already over 100,000.

These troops are all located in Kyoto.

Can play a very big role.

Zhu Gaoxu heard this and said directly: "That's easy to say, but the King of Wa should also know that the court will not allow my father to send troops at will. This is equivalent to violating the court's decision and he will definitely be punished afterwards."

"Everything else is easy to talk about. Should we first give us the 200,000 taels of silver that the King of Japan promised as a token of sincerity?"

Emperor Go-Komatsu's request was naturally not to ask Prince Yan to bring his army to Kyoto Prefecture.

Instead, they should station troops at the border of Honshu Island to put pressure on Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It would be best if they could let Ashikaga Yoshimitsu go to the border in person.

In this way, Emperor Komatsu could steal a base in the rear.

Kyoto is also the base of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Emperor Go-Komatsu was a little hesitant when he heard this. He was afraid that Prince Yan would take the money and do nothing. He couldn't make up his mind and could only look at the other four people.

All four of them nodded.

Anyway, the money was not paid by them, so even if the King of Yan swallowed it, they could not be blamed.

But if he doesn't give it, the King of Yan probably won't send troops.

When Emperor Go-Komatsu saw that the four agreed, he also said, "Okay, let's do it according to the prince's wishes."

The matter was settled and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Gaoxu received 200,000 taels of silver, and Emperor Go-Komatsu also received a promise.

This matter can only be done verbally, and it is impossible to sign a document or something like that, but this is in the interests of both parties. If there are no unexpected circumstances, the cooperation will naturally proceed as agreed.

Next, Emperor Go-Komatsu arranged programs for Zhu Gaoxu and others.

Rows of young and beautiful Japanese women walked in, many of them were shrine maids.

This made Zhu Gaoxu and others feel extremely involved.

…

"The prince of Daming has already left."

"Reporting to His Excellency the General, we have now left Kyoto Prefecture."

"Then let's get started. Let our Emperor sober up."

Inside the shogunate.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gave the order coldly.

Ever since the Prince of Daming crossed the border, his whereabouts have been under the control of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

What's more, Emperor Go-Komatsu also prepared hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

You know, Kyoto Prefecture is the base camp of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

The young Emperor Go-Komatsu thought that these things were flawless, but in fact his every move was under the surveillance of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Among those Japanese women who came to the palace to entertain the Prince of Daming, nearly half of them were Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's spies.

While Emperor Go-Komatsu was still celebrating in the palace.

A large number of warriors have begun to gather at the gate of the palace.

"What are you doing? This is the palace of His Majesty the Emperor."

When the palace guards on duty saw so many people, they immediately became nervous and quickly closed the palace gate.

"By order of His Excellency the General, His Majesty the Emperor has been deceived by evil people. We are ordered to eliminate the evil people. You are to open the city gates immediately."

The leading general of the Takeuchi clan shouted loudly to the guards at the palace gate.

Upon seeing this, the chief guard at the palace gate immediately replied: "We are the guards of the palace and we obey the orders of His Majesty the Emperor, not the General."

"The palace gates will never be opened today. I will report this to His Majesty the Emperor immediately."

If the palace gates are closed, it will obviously be difficult to capture the palace in one fell swoop.

If the time is delayed for too long, it will not be so easy to deal with.

However, the leading general was not in a hurry at all. He just sneered at the captain of the guards at the palace gate.

At this moment, the captain of the guards suddenly felt a chill on his back and a sharp pain came.

Turning around, he saw that it was his adjutant.

"I'm sorry, I'm from His Excellency the General."

The sudden incident caused the guards at the palace gate to be at a loss as to what to do.

"Open the city gates immediately and welcome the general's troops into the palace."

The samurai sword in his hand was stained with blood. The captain of the guards was not dead yet. The adjutant shouted loudly to the guards around him.

Immediately, some of the guards who followed the adjutant went to open the palace gate.

The other guards watched helplessly as their superior died, and they didn't seem to know what to do.

After all, the general's majesty is still very powerful.

There weren't many warriors coming, only about five thousand or so, but in the entire palace, there were only about a thousand people.

The most important thing is that among these thousand people, nearly half are Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's subordinates.

Soon, the palace hall was surrounded.

Emperor Go-Komatsu had already received the news. He did not expect that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would dare to directly threaten the palace.

Is this going to kill yourself?

At this moment, Emperor Go-Komatsu was so frightened that his whole body was shaking.

When Gokomatsu thought that he might be killed and recognized Ashikaga Yoshimochi as the successor emperor, his whole spirit and energy were gone.

"Takeuchi, it's you!"

Emperor Go-Komatsu mustered up his last bit of courage, maintained a bit of dignity and knelt at the head of the hall, waiting for the people who were forcing him to abdicate to come in.

He was very familiar with the leader among them, it was Takeuchi.

This person had agreed to follow his name more than ten days ago.

"It turns out that you betrayed me."

Emperor Go-Komatsu gritted his teeth, he actually thought that the Takeuchi clan had surrendered to him, but it turned out that it was all just a cover.

Takeuchi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I am meeting with Your Majesty in compliance with the order of His Excellency the Shogun."

Emperor Go-Osomatsu said coldly: "You acted really well. I didn't expect that I was kept in the dark by you."

Hearing this, Takeuchi felt a little embarrassed.

That's not acting, it's completely his true self.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry."

Takeuchi didn't want to say any more, as saying too much would make the general dislike him.

He then shouted, "Left and right, purge the evildoers around His Majesty the Emperor."

The massacre began.

A large number of Japanese warriors began to carry out large-scale killings of the guards, palace maids, and servants in the palace.

Emperor Go-Komatsu watched helplessly as his female officials, guards, servants and familiar faces were killed in large numbers.

But at this time, Emperor Go-Komatsu was so frightened that he dared not say anything.

The royal palace of Japan is not very big.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, even the mansions of some wealthy businessmen may be much inferior.

Therefore, the killing action came very quickly.

The emperor himself never had much military power, so he had almost no ability to resist.

"Help His Majesty the Emperor to clean up the palace."

Takeuchi said with a smile, then turned and left.

No matter what, the emperor is the spiritual symbol of Japan.

Unless the general came in person, other daimyos would not take any action against the emperor, no matter how much they looked down on him.

…

In the shogunate.

Takeuchi reported the news of the cleaning of the palace to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu just nodded slightly.

In his opinion, this was not a big deal at all.

While the royal palace was being purged, monks from several temples and five daimyo families were surrounded and killed by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's army.

This is equivalent to completely eradicating the forces that have surrendered to the emperor.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had been watching Emperor Komatsu's actions before and after, and was just waiting for this moment to take action.

"Your Excellency the General, the two princes of the Ming Dynasty took away two hundred thousand taels of silver and reached an agreement with His Majesty the Emperor."

"The King of Yan of the Ming Dynasty will personally lead his troops to the border to put pressure on us and force the general to go."

Takeuchi told Ashikaga Yoshimitsu all the news he had learned from the emperor.

In fact, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had already known about these things through other channels.

But there was still a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

Since the general did not speak, the Takeuchi clan could only remain silent.

After a while, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu seemed to have made up his mind and said, "Notify the daimyo in various places to reorganize the army and prepare for war."

"This is our chance, and it's also the chance given to us by His Majesty the Emperor."

"If we can win the war with the King of Yan of the Ming Dynasty, then our country of Japan will no longer be what it is now."

There was a hint of madness in Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's tone.

Japan is now too weak and has never won any victory in the battle against the Ming Dynasty.

He needs a victory to stabilize his reputation.

Now is a good opportunity, because the Prince of Yan of the Ming Dynasty is definitely not prepared for war and is just pretending to do so.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was to lead a large army and plan a war against the Ming Dynasty's Prince of Yan.

Now Japan has a sufficient number of firearms, while the Prince of Yan of the Ming Dynasty has only tens of thousands of troops, so the hope of victory is very great.